Frustrated South African Airways CEO Resigns

Good riddance. Jarana was like the Joe Biden of the airline industry.

@Joe Chivas - not sure what you mean by that. I know Vuyani personally and there is very little negative that anyone has to say about him. Even SAA's top management are in shock (although maybe not surprised) over the decision - all of the ones I've spoken to this morning have been left speechless.

If Vuyani couldn't make it work, nobody will be able to. That is simply the reality. He is the first SAA CEO who actually won the trust and backing of the majority of staff for his turnaround plan. Where that will go now, I don't know.

As Vuyani noted, 60% of the problems with SAA are the structures for interaction between the management, the board and the Government which don't allow them to be agile and responsive to market forces. Although a newcomer to aviation, he was politically nimble and a superb organisational manager - that gave him the best chance of solving these structural issues. He also had a fierce personal determination to succeed in this role. If he is throwing in the towel, I really begin to doubt if the SAA issue can ever be truly resolved.

No fleet renewal plans? We will need to relook this when the 6x A350’s start arriving and the A340s are gone.

SAA could survive as a much smaller airline. They have no business trying to compete on any long haul route whatsoever. For example, once United starts EWR-CPT on a state-of-the-art 789, would anyone in their right mind fly SAA? They should keep a handful of old wide bodies for regional routes such as Lagos and Accra, and focus on being a small, nimble domestic and regional airline with a fraction of the cost base. The government is trying to protect jobs at a criminal cost to South African taxpayers.

This is terrible. Very terrifying to watch how one of Africa's finest and seasoned Airline is sacrificed by politicians.
Very unfortunate. Can others learn the lesson? Especially, in the continent.

South African politicians, enough said.

Crazy stuff. I have recently been on the receiving end of the resultant aged fleet and poor service delivery. The headrest fell off in flight and hit me on the back of the head and when I got to my destination my luggage was crushed beyond repair. A sign of things to come?

Although proudly South African, commercial sanity and safety considerations need to prevail. Does this mean a move to use another airline? Under the current circumstances this is a harsh and sad reality from SAA once having been a benchmark for service delivery in the airline industry.

@Brett S I seriously doubt anyone except avgeeks books flights based off of aircraft type. I would rather fly an Airbus in economy than a 787

After KQ its now SAA .....

SAA has been steadily declining over the past 15+ years.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I avoid SAA at all costs, and I always pay a premium to fly Comair (dba British Airways) for flights intra-South Africa and inter-southern Africa. My travel agent in Cape Town has stopped even pricing out SAA flights, as she knows how much I can't stand them, and every South African I know detests SAA more than I do.

I wish them luck, but I am not hopeful in the least that they can ever be profitable.

What if Ethiopian airline take the management ? ?

Why doesn't the government just privatize the company?

@Ed A...they will never do it, for if they do, the gravy train comes to a stop and all their "comrades" won't have a job.

Mal33