SAA launches investigation into Mango Airlines
South African Airways has launched an internal investigation into the carrier's relationship with its subsidiary, Mango Airlines.
Mango’s CEO Nico Bezuidenhout is due to leave for rival Fastjet, and SAA is investigating how certain routes were allocated from SAA to Mango, damaging the main carrier.
SAA had original spoken about how it subsidised Mango’s operations by leasing it a fleet of ten B737s at a discounted rate while paying premiums to their lessor and had planned to launch an investigation into the leases as well as the route allocations..
Since then, the carrier has retracted this allegation, and Bezuidenhout continually denied these claims, leading to SAA correcting its original statement:
"During March 2016, the SAA Board, with the assistance of external advisors, analysed these lease agreements with Mango and satisfied itself that all such agreements had been concluded on a full cost recovery basis. These aircraft were accordingly not leased at a discount."
SAA’s statement has been considered an attempt to smear Bezuidenhout’s legacy at Mango by implying the subsidiary’s success is down to SAA’s subsidisation.
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