DURBAN – The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) has confirmed it submitted papers to Mango Airlines Business Rescue Practitioner in a bid to take over Mango Airlines.
The council said it had noted the practitioner’s leaked response to the papers it filed.
“Santaco did submit a bid to acquire Mango Airlines. We are confident we submitted a formidable bid. We also note the business rescue practitioner’s reply letter that was leaked to the media,” Santaco said.
SANTACO did submit a bid to acquire Mango Airlines. We are confident we submitted a formidable bid. We will make a statement this week on the matter including the Business Rescue Practitioner's reply letter that was leaked to the media.
— SANTACO (@SA_Taxis) February 13, 2022
In July, Mango Airlines went into voluntary business rescue after it was grounded due to outstanding payments to Air Traffic and Navigation Services.
At the time, acting chief executive William Ndlovu said: “We plan to resume normal operations as soon as possible. We ask for calm and patience as we navigate these challenges. We will update the public as soon as possible. We apologise in advance for the inconvenience caused.”
However, business rescuer, Sipho Sono, announced that the SAA subsidiary would be up for bids from private entities willing to take over the airline.
Workers union Solidarity said the air carrier was “another victim on the long list of failed state institutions”.
The union’s Defence and Aviation co-ordinator, Derek Mans, said poor politically inclined ideology took precedence over sound business practises.
“Employees at the airline are now paying the price for the poor decisions of the past made by the government. We are in a situation again where ideology and centralisation take precedence over sound business practises and sound economic decisions. The result is that thousands of people are now without work while such a situation could very well have been prevented,” Mans said.
If I may ask, what happened to this one? If I'm not mistaken, the photo below is the only time we heard about it.https://t.co/yLwmuliN79 pic.twitter.com/b6BMzkFzq3
— #RememberMarikana🇿🇦 (@LiberalsAreNaiv) February 13, 2022
Santaco had initially gone up on air for a maiden flight in 2011, via Santaco Airlines, but never materialised to a fully-fledged airline.
Santaco said it would release a statement on the matter during the week.
Daily News