South African Airways' repatriation flights from Jakarta, Bangkok lands at Joburg

May 12, 2020: As reassured its customers that it will continue to operate repatriation flights during the month of May and beyond, South African Airways’ (SAA) Jakarta and Bangkok flights landed on May 8 at OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg. Jakarta flight carried more than 130 passengers and Bangkok had 230+ passengers.

The state-owned airline, which was declared bankrupt, offered compensation deals to all staff from the end of April after administrators - Les Matuson and Sizwe Dongwana concluded that a successful turnaround is now unlikely. The basic value of compensation will be one-month pay per year of service and will depend on the successful disposal of assets such as real estate, rotables, and trade debts.

There are several requests for repatriation flights to operate to North, West, and East Africa, the UK, the Middle East, South and North America, and the Far East during the course of this month that are being considered by the airline.

Since April 3, SAA has transported more than 9,100 passengers to six continents and more than 870 tonnes of freight, both export and import consignments, which included essential humanitarian cargo.