South African Airways (SAA) has dismissed reports that they are planning to stop flights to East London.
This week a news report by News24 alleged that the national carrier was “dumping routes, reducing flights and getting rid of some of its airplanes – all in a desperate bid to stay aloft”.
The report said East London and Port Elizabeth routes would be cut, and that they planned to “dispose of 10 of its planes. It owns only nine of its 50 planes and leases the rest, which costs it about R3.5-billion-a- year,” the report claimed.
SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali however dismissed the rumours as untrue yesterday.
“They wrote a story about SAA’s network without speaking to SAA.
“SAA has not put out any such information. As an airline we deal with network issues on a daily basis,” he said.
“It is the heartbeat of our work, so if there are changes we know our obligations towards customers. We did not put out any information about network changes.
“There has been no decision made by the company that we are going to effect network changes. When we have made the decision, we will make appropriate announcements.
“There is no decision as we speak. If a decision has been made, the decision will be communicated.”
Asked whether there had been any communication with the relevant stakeholders about probable route changes, Tlali said that was not necessary.
“You engage with stakeholders once you have made a decision because the decision will affect them. Right now, there is no decision made,” Tlali added.
It was reported that the new flight schedule would be introduced in October — siyat@dispatch.co.za
SAA ‘not stopping’ flights to the city
This week a news report by News24 alleged that the national carrier was “dumping routes, reducing flights and getting rid of some of its airplanes – all in a desperate bid to stay aloft”.
The report said East London and Port Elizabeth routes would be cut, and that they planned to “dispose of 10 of its planes. It owns only nine of its 50 planes and leases the rest, which costs it about R3.5-billion-a- year,” the report claimed.
SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali however dismissed the rumours as untrue yesterday.
“They wrote a story about SAA’s network without speaking to SAA.
“SAA has not put out any such information. As an airline we deal with network issues on a daily basis,” he said.
“It is the heartbeat of our work, so if there are changes we know our obligations towards customers. We did not put out any information about network changes.
“There has been no decision made by the company that we are going to effect network changes. When we have made the decision, we will make appropriate announcements.
“There is no decision as we speak. If a decision has been made, the decision will be communicated.”
Asked whether there had been any communication with the relevant stakeholders about probable route changes, Tlali said that was not necessary.
“You engage with stakeholders once you have made a decision because the decision will affect them. Right now, there is no decision made,” Tlali added.
It was reported that the new flight schedule would be introduced in October — siyat@dispatch.co.za
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