CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s struggling national airline SAA said on Wednesday five narrow-body aircraft would be retired from its fleet by December, causing an overall flights reduction of 23 percent, in a bid to return to profitability.
“One narrow-body aircraft has left the fleet, with four more expected to leave the fleet by December 2017,” a presentation to legislators said.
The airline runs one of Africa’s biggest fleets but is loss-making. It received state funds in July to help to repay debts and also depends on government debt guarantees of about 20 billion rand ($1.5 billion).
South Africa’s cabinet will make a final decision on how to recapitalize the airline by end September, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba earlier said
“Before the end of September, we should have gone to cabinet, proposed the options and cabinet should have taken the decision,” Gigaba said.
“What is a fact is that there is a 10 billion rand capitalization that is required for South African Airways but the source or model of that recapitalization is not yet finalized.”
Gigaba said the other options include a share equity, public-private partnerships and “a full share swap in regard to the Telkom shares.”
South Africa is considering selling its stake in landline provider Telkom to fund SAA’s 10-billion rand bailout. The government holds a stake of about 39 percent in Telkom.
South Africa has also appointed Vodacom Group executive Vuyani Jarana as the carrier’s new chief executive to help for the state airline turn its business fortunes around.
South Africa’s loss-making airline to cut fleet in bid to turn fortunes
South Africa’s loss-making airline to cut fleet in bid to turn fortunes
Closing Bell: Saudi main index closes in red at 11,183
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index dipped on Monday, losing 44.79 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 11,183.85.
The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR4.05 billion ($1.08 billion), as 69 of the listed stocks advanced, while 191 retreated.
The MSCI Tadawul Index decreased, down 6.63 points or 0.44 percent, to close at 1,504.73.
The Kingdom’s parallel market Nomu lost 328.20 points, or 1.36 percent, to close at 23,764.92. This comes as 22 of the listed stocks advanced, while 49 retreated.
The best-performing stock was Maharah Human Resources Co., with its share price surging by 7.26 percent to SR6.50.
Other top performers included Arabian Cement Co., which saw its share price rise by 6.27 percent to SR22.71, and Saudi Research and Media Group, which saw a 4.3 percent increase to SR104.30.
On the downside, the worst performer of the day was Arabian Internet and Communications Services Co., whose share price fell by 8.01 percent to SR207.80.
Jahez International Co. for Information System Technology and Al-Rajhi Co. for Cooperative Insurance also saw declines, with their shares dropping by 5.61 percent and 4.46 percent to SR12.79 and SR75, respectively.
On the announcement front, Etihad Etisalat Co. announced its financial results for 2025 with a 7.9 percent year-on-year growth in its revenues, to reach SR19.6 billion.
In a Tadawul statement, Mobily said that this growth is attributed to “the expansion of all revenue streams, with a healthy growth in the overall subscriber base.”
Mobily delivered an 11.6 percent increase in net profit, reaching SR3.4 billion in 2025 compared to SR3.1 billion in 2024.
The company’s share price reached SR67.85, marking a 0.37 percent increase on the main market.
