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South Africa plans to table a special appropriation bill to parliament in the next month to request a ZAR10b (US$762m) bailout for the airline, treasury’s top official said Wednesday. SAA is seeking a ZAR13b bailout from govt to pay off debts and keep its planes in the air. The Airline also plan to fly 23% fewer flights by the end of the year as it retires 5 aircraft, a part of a revamp aimed at returning to profit. Acting CE Musa Zwane said the impact of the reduced flights would mostly be felt among domestic passengers although regional and international routes will also be affected. As part of its turnaround strategy, he said the airline was making good progress in bringing down operation and aircraft maintenance costs. However, liquidity constraints and exposure to volatile currency exchange rates remained a challenge, he said. <br/>

The Indian govt Thursday invited bids to appoint 2 financial advisers and one legal adviser for the privatisation of Air India and its subsidiaries. The applications for the bid seek advisers for the "strategic disinvestment of Air India and its subsidiaries/ joint venture," 2 similarly-worded public notices said. Elaborating on the govt's requirement one of the notices listed that it "requires the services of reputed law firms with experience and expertise in mergers and acquisitions/ takeovers/strategic disinvestment/ private equity transaction to act as legal adviser and assist govt in the process". "The govt of India has in-principle decided to consider the disinvestment of the AI Group as a whole or its constituents fully or part thereof through strategic sale with transfer of management control," the notices further said. <br/>