Mango administrator appeals decision to cancel grounded carrier’s operating licence

Mango Airlines’ administrator is seeking to overturn a decision to cancel the grounded South African budget carrier’s operating licence. In a recent progress report, Mango’s business rescue practitioner (BRP), Sipho Sono, reveals that he will lodge an appeal against the International Air Services Council’s (IASC) decision to cancel the airline’s licence. Sono wrote to the IASC on 9 February seeking an explanation for its decision to cancel Mango’s licence, but says he has yet to receive a response. “The BRP has therefore taken a decision to lodge an appeal against the decision of the IASC, and instructed his attorneys to commence those proceedings,” says Sono. Mango’s operating licence is currently suspended because the carrier, which was placed into formal financial restructuring in the summer of 2021, has not flown for over a year. Last month, Mango’s BRP launched a legal bid to secure a decision from the South African public enterprises minister to unblock a potential rescue deal for the airline. The administrator expressed frustration that the government had not reached a decision on South African Airways’ decision to sell its shares in Mango – a key part of the process for a prospective bidder to potentially rescue the carrier. In its latest progress report, the BRP says the minister of public enterprises, the national treasury and the minister of finance filed notices opposing the High Court application, which had been due to be heard on 28 February. “Due to the very late filing of the state respondents’ answering papers (on 27 and 28 February, respectively), as well as an intervening application brought by NUMSA [union] to join the BRP and Mango as a co-applicant, the parties requested the urgent court judge to stand the matter down in order to consult with the deputy judge president to agree on the further conduct of the matter,” says the administrator. <br/>