South Africa starts talks with potential buyers of state airline

South Africa’s government has started talks with private entities interested in buying into the country’s insolvent national carrier, which needs at least 10b rand ($583m) to resume operations. A team from the Department of Public Enterprises and advisers from FirstRand’s Rand Merchant Bank began negotiations after receiving as many as four promising proposals regarding South African Airways, according to Kgathatso Tlhakudi, the DPE’s director general. The state ideally wants SAA to resume operations by the year-end, he said in an interview on Wednesday, although much will depend on a pick up in demand amid the Covid-19 pandemic. While Tlhakudi declined to identify SAA’s suitors, the government has said previously that approaches have been made by private-equity firms and potential aviation partners. Ethiopian Airlines Group, Africa’s largest and only consistently profitable carrier, has in the past said it may be interested. SAA has been in administration since December and hasn’t flown a commercial passenger flight since March, when South Africa’s borders were closed to help contain the coronavirus. <br/>