South African Airways Gets 5 Billion Rand, Told to Restructure Debt
- State-owned airline doesn’t have cash to pay debt due 2019
- Carrier should negotiate with creditors, Treasury says
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The National Treasury allocated 5 billion rand ($350 million) to help South African Airways to repay debt, but said the state-owned airline will have to engage with creditors to restructure almost double that amount.
SAA has 14.2 billion rand of repayments due by March, the Treasury said in its mid-term budget statement Wednesday. The company “is not generating sufficient cash to repay its total debt, and will have to negotiate with lenders to refinance or extend maturity dates,’’ it said.