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The CEO-elect of South African Airways is making his first priority convincing banks that the state-owned carrier’s new leadership is committed to stemming five straight years of losses and repaying its debt. Lenders and other stakeholders need to be assured that “there is a plan that is plausible for SAA,” Vuyani Jarana said. “It’s a public interest company, you have your lenders who are as important as your shareholder.” Jarana, 46, is due to become SAA’s first permanent CEO since 2015 when he joins the airline from Vodacom Group Ltd., South Africa’s largest wireless carrier, where he previously held the position of CEO for its business division. His appointment comes after Citigroup Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc both refused to extend loan terms for SAA, which hasn’t made a profit since 2011 and has been surviving off government bailouts and guarantees. “There is a strategy in place to ‘stop the bleeding’ and I am confident that it will succeed, and that we can negotiate plans for refinancing,” said Jarana. “The exciting part will be in re-engineering the commercial and growth strategy and improving customer satisfaction at SAA,” he said. SAA has been run on an acting basis by CTO Musa Zwane, who was the seventh permanent or temporary CEO of the airline since 2010. <br/>

A disruptive passenger was removed from an international Air New Zealand flight Thursday, causing it to be diverted. Flight NZ175 from Auckland to Perth was diverted to Adelaide where police met the Boeing 787 aircraft. The passenger, a man, was removed by police. He was reported to have had mental health issues and charges weren't expected to be laid. He had failed to comply with directions given by the flight crew, an Air NZspokeswoman said. No passengers were injured and the Air NZ crew were trained to deal with such incidents. After stopping in Adelaide, the flight departed at 2.55pm local time, before arriving in Perth at 4.33pm, local time.<br/>