Ethiopian Airlines willing to Supply SAA with Planes and Pilots: CEO

Addis Ababa, October 5, 2020 (FBC) – Ethiopian Airlines is willing to supply South African Airways with planes, pilots and maintenance services as part of a new venture with the South African government, CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said.

Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde Gebre Marium says that they’re looking at providing operational assistance and aren’t interested in “helping with debt repayments or the cost of reducing the workforce”.

“We don’t want to deal with the legacy issues — the debt, labour claims and so on because that is very difficult for us not only in terms of financial outlay but also in terms of managing the restructuring,” says Gebre Marium. adding “We want to make it very easy for them to start the airline by providing aeroplanes, by providing expertise, pilots, technicians, leadership.”

SAA, which has been under bankruptcy protection since the end of 2019, is in need of roughly 600 million USD to refund tickets and pay severance packages to nearly 4000 former employees.