Ethiopian Air limits South African offer to pilots, jets

Bloomberg

Ethiopian Airlines Group is willing to provide planes, pilots and maintenance services to beleaguered rival South African Airways as part of a joint venture with that country’s government.
Africa’s biggest airline is offering operational assistance, Ethiopian CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said in an interview in Addis Ababa. The carrier isn’t interested in helping with debt repayments or the cost of reducing the workforce, he said.
“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.”
Ethiopian could provide more modern Airbus SE 350s and Boeing Co 787s, he said, in comparison with SAA’s Airbus 340 planes. South Africa’s government is in need of more than 10 billion rand ($600 million) to resuscitate an airline that’s been in bankruptcy protection since December. The cash is needed in part for ticket refunds and severance packages for almost 4,000 workers who agreed to leave as part of a rescue plan put together by administrators and backed by labour groups.
Tewolde called on African governments to be more aggressive in reopening borders following months of travel restrictions due to the pandemic.