A long-awaited Business Rescue Plan has been published by
the administrators of beleaguered South African Airways this week, with
services between Johannesburg and London retained in the proposed network.
The airline entered a form of bankruptcy protection in
December 2019 and then grounded all services in March following the outbreak of
the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the plans, the airline would begin a staggered
resumption of operations between July 2020 and January 2021.
The airline would retain most of its African routes from
Johannesburg as well as domestic services to Cape Town. There is also a
proposed return of services to Durban and Cape Town, but East London would be
dropped.
Internationally, it would resume flights to London,
Washington (via Accra), New York and Perth, but would drop services to Hong
Kong, Munich, Sao Paulo and Guangzhou.
Creditors will vote on the plan next week, although two
unions have already rejected it, claiming staff severance packages are too
small and job cuts too wide-ranging, according to the Financial Post.
The proposal involves cutting around 80 per cent of staff,
leaving 1,000 roles initially before rising again to nearly 3,000, and would
cost at least R10 billion (around £464 million) to execute.