While it respects the judicial process, privately owned airline, Airlink, will either seek leave to appeal the Gauteng High Court judgement over outstanding funds owed to it by SAA or recoup its revenue from the national carrier as a creditor.
This is according to CEO and MD of Airlink, Rodger Foster, who expressed disappointment over yesterday’s Gauteng High Court judgement dismissal of the application in which Airlink sought to recover funds from the sale of Airlink flight tickets
Foster explained that in terms of its long-standing franchise agreement with SAA, sales of tickets for travel on Airlink SA8-coded flights were processed by SAA’s computer reservation system. Revenue from these sales was meant to be ring-fenced and safeguarded until they were paid over to Airlink once the tickets had been flown.
This arrangement served both carriers well for many years, said Foster, until last November when SAA said it was unable to transfer funds to Airlink that were derived from tickets redeemed on Airlink flights in the preceding weeks, as it used the money for its own working capital.
“While today’s judgement is a setback for Airlink, we have a robust balance sheet and have made alternative arrangements to ensure we have sufficient funds available to continue operating and serving our customers without any disruptions,” said Foster.
“At the same time, as part of our resilience and growth strategy, we have been busy preparing for business beyond and after the SAA franchise.”
In January, Airlink notified SAA of its intention to end the franchise on June 10, 2020, from when Airlink will operate on its unique 4Z flight designator and ticketing code.
Foster pointed out that Airlink had also been putting in place co-operative agreements with several international long-haul airlines to carry connecting passengers and cargo on its comprehensive network across Southern Africa.
