South African Airways says it needs capital injection "now"

South African Airways needs a new capital injection “now” to stay afloat and is in discussions with banks and the National Treasury for “an open credit line”, its CE said Tuesday. State-owned SAA, which has not generated a profit since 2011, is regularly cited by ratings agencies as a drain on the government purse and has already received state guarantees totalling nearly US$1.6b. “We do need access to capital to sustain the operations and we are having discussions with Treasury, as well as the banks around how we have an open credit line,” CE Vuyani Jarana told parliament. Asked by an opposition lawmaker when the airline would need to access billions of rands of extra state support, Jarana responded “Now”. He later said that SAA would need around 5b rand this year to pay down debts and for operational costs. The struggling airline has not had credit facilities since August when bank lenders pulled the plug after a debt repayment scare. “Over the next six months we will need... in the range of 5b rand to make sure we can support the working capital,” Jarana said, adding that amount included arrear payments. The National Treasury said that SAA needs an equity partner to pump money into the company to address a liquidity crisis and to help with the implementation of a turnaround plan.<br/>