The administrators of South African Airways said conditions for a business rescue have been met and plans to resuscitate the state-owned airline will now proceed. The administrators didn’t disclose in a notice to affected parties on Tuesday whether the government had met their demand to place in an escrow account 16.4b rand ($988m) the state has guaranteed to creditors should the carrier fail. The money will be put into a receivership by the government over the next three years and will be taken off SAA’s balance sheet, a person familiar with the situation said. “The standard government guarantee remains in full force and effect,” the Treasury said in response to queries. The administrators accepted a letter saying that the Treasury will “mobilize” just over 10 billion rand needed to keep the airline afloat. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has said the funding will be sought from private investors such as “strategic partners,” or private equity. The announcement means the airline will avoid liquidation, but the plan will see it slash its workforce to about 1,000 workers from around 4,700. It hasn’t made a profit since 2011 and has been surviving on government bailouts.<br/>
star
Hyundai Development Company's (HDC) planned takeover of Asiana Airlines appears to be on the brink of collapse, following the former's official request for another round of due diligence on the cash-squeezed air carrier, aviation industry officials and analysts said Monday. HDC is putting the blame for the delay in negotiations on Kumho Industrial, which had decided to sell its airline unit, claiming that the latter has failed to send formal data related to the carrier's financial status, despite repeated requests since early April. This was seen by some industry officials as HDC making excuses in preparation for abandoning its planned acquisition of the indebted carrier, while others speculated that HDC may be moving to reduce the price. HDC signed an agreement to purchase a controlling stake in the carrier, held by Kumho Industrial, Dec. 27, but the negotiations between the two sides have made slow progress due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic. Concerns have been raised over the possible collapse of the deal, especially after Jeju Air decided last week to abandon its acquisition of cash-strapped Eastar Jet because of growing uncertainties in the aviation industry caused by the prolonged pandemic. <br/>
Air New Zealand has put a hold on any new bookings to Australia until the end of August to minimise further disruption for passengers. It follows an announcement of a further pause in inbound bookings for a further two weeks revealed on Monday. The airline Wednesday said that due to Australian government restrictions it has put a hold on further bookings to Australia until August 28. Australia has a cap of 30 passenger arrivals per flight into Sydney and Brisbane in place. International passenger arrivals into Melbourne are not currently permitted to August 8. Air New Zealand chief commercial and customer officer Cam Wallace said while the government restrictions are in place until August 8, the airline is placing a hold on future bookings to help prevent disruptions to customer journeys should these restrictions be extended. "We know there are people wanting to head home to Australia at this time and we'll be ready to fly them as soon as we are able to accommodate more passengers." The airline said earlier this week it has again extended the freeze on all new bookings for international flights coming into the country until August 9.<br/>