Right of reply: ‘Tongue-in-cheek commentary on SAA doesn’t reflect facts’

South African Airways (SAA) respects the vital role of editorial media in holding state-owned enterprises to account. We welcome scrutiny of our operations and contribution to the economy.

It is regrettable, however, The Citizen‘s report on a matter of serious public interested (sic), the national flag carrier’s recent financial results announcement on 10 February, 2026, shifted from analysis to a “tongue-in-cheek” commentary that did not reflect the facts presented.

The tabling of the 2024-25 financial results of SAA marks the successful conclusion of a concentrated effort to clear the airline’s historical financial reporting backlog.

Even before going into business rescue in 2022, SAA had a problem of unclosed external audits.

The new leadership since the airline’s emergence from business rescue in 2021 have worked hard and successfully to clear this backlog of legacy audits.

This AFS in question were completed and presented to the SAA board in August 2025, but the AGM was only held at the end of January this year due to diary complexities and the fact that a new board of directors was installed in August 2025.

SAA was able to achieve the board-approved AFS within the legislated six months from the close of the financial year in March 2025.

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Contrary to The Citizen‘s report, SAA has received no shareholder funding (“taxpayer bailouts”) for operations since exiting business rescue in 2021.

The airline is self-sustaining, funded entirely by operational revenues. In 2024-25, SAA generated R8.838 billion in revenue, a 35.89% year-on-year increase.

At year-end, SAA’s cash and cash equivalents stood at R1.967 billion, with total equity of R6.649 billion.

A previous error in wording between “million” and “billion” caused by the confusion with a use of a comma, is regretted and was corrected in subsequent versions following what The Citizen received.

The audited financials accepted at the AGM remain the authoritative record, reflecting a robust balance sheet capable of supporting SAA’s 17-route network and fleet expansion plans.

The airline is moving decisively from the business rescue and recovery period into a phase of stability and growth. We remain focused on our mandate, delivering a world-class airline that is commercially viable.

Editor’s note: The Citizen did not report about taxpayer subsidies since the airline exited business rescue in 2021. We merely commented the airline has sucked up huge amounts in taxpayer bailouts over the years. The error in SAA’s original release was only corrected 24 hours later.

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