South Africa receives unsolicited proposals for new national airline

The South African government said Tuesday it had received unsolicited proposals from private sector funders, private equity investors and potential partners for a new national airline based on struggling South African Airways. State-owned SAA has been under a form of bankruptcy protection since December, and its administrators last week proposed a restructuring plan for which the government had to find at least 10b rand ($580m) of new funds. Creditors are due to vote on the restructuring plan on Thursday, but one of SAA’s creditors - private airline Airlink - has launched an urgent court application to try to prevent the vote from happening. The Department of Public Enterprises, which is responsible for SAA, said: “Government is intent on pursuing credible proposals for investment and strategic partnerships with the private sector, as well as equity participation for employees”. It did not name any of the funders, investors or partners who had expressed an interest in the new airline to emerge from the wreckage of SAA. <br/>