Ethiopian Airlines outlines SAA offer from Addis Ababa

The Ethiopian Airlines Group says it’s willing to provide planes, pilots and maintenance services to beleaguered national carrier South African Airways (SAA) as part of a joint venture with the government.

Africa’s biggest airline is further offering operational assistance, Chief Executive Officer Tewolde Gebre Mariam said during an interview from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

However, Mariam added, Ethiopian Airlines isn’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, labor 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,” the CEO said. “We want to make it very easy for them to start the airline by providing airplanes, by providing expertise, pilots, technicians, leadership.”

Tewolde called on African governments to be more aggressive in reopening borders following months of travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ethiopian flights are on average 40% full, the CEO said.

While Boeing plans to get its 737 Max model back into the sky by year-end, Ethiopian remains in talks with the planemaker about compensation for a deadly crash in March 2019 that led the jet to be grounded worldwide.

It’s still unclear if the airline will ever fly the model again, Tewolde said.