Mango, the state-owned low-cost airliner that is struggling to stay afloat in the absence of fresh government money, was back in the skies last night after a payment dispute with SA’s airport operator briefly saw it stop operating, leaving customers stranded.

A Business Day report says early yesterday, Airports Company SA (Acsa), blocked the airline from using its facilities due to non-payment of landing and parking fees.

Mango, which is in the throes of a liquidity crisis and is due to cease operations on 1 May pending government assistance, eventually reached an agreement with Acsa that allowed it to resume flights.

The airline had made further undertakings to settle the remaining debt.

Acsa said its approach to dealing with Mango was consistent with how it handled similar issues with other airlines. It said details of contracts ‘remain confidential’.

In March, Acsa reported a loss of close to R1.5bn in the first half of its financial year, from a profit of R125m, as revenue plummeted to just R685m from R3.5bn.

Its finances were whacked when clients such as BA operator Comair went into distress due to the lockdown and the closure of international and provincial borders.

Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that SAA Technical, which provided maintenance services to commercial airlines before losing the confidence of major clients, is set to retrench at least 60% of its 2 000 employees.

Trade union Solidarity said it had received retrenchment notices inviting parties to consult on possible redundancies.

Full Business Day report