South African Airways to switch shorthaul network out to Mango?

South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) could transfer all domestic and short-haul operations to its low-cost Mango Airlines (MNO, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) subsidiary acting airline CEO Nico Bezuidenhout has said.

Outlining progress made up to Day 60 of the airline's 90 Day Action Plan, Bezuidenhout noted that SAA could turn its attention to the still-profitable regional sector while switching out its loss-making domestic routes to Mango, whose break-even fare of ZAR900 (USD77) for shorthaul flights, was roughly half that of SAA at ZAR1,700 (USD146).

The Business Times newspaper reports that in SAA's latest financial year, domestic operations generated ZAR790 million (USD68 million) in operating profit against ZAR760 million (USD65 million) for regional flights. However, regional flying proved far more profitable as it accounted for half the capacity (60%) being dedicated to domestic flights.

The cash-strapped national carrier is facing increased competition on the domestic front from budget airlines such as Kulula Air (Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) and FlySafair (FA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) with SkyWise (Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) set to make its début early next month.

South Africa flyafrica (Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) and sister airlines Zimbabwe flyafrica (Harare International) and Namibia flyafrica (Windhoek International) will also become a threat on the regional front with SAA's cash-cow routes to Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, and Mozambique under threat.

SAA has already announced plans to terminate its loss-making Beijing Capital and Mumbai International longhaul services later next month with plans to reconfigure its Washington Dulles route by using a stop-over in another, unidentified West African country instead of Dakar Yoff-Léopold Sédar Senghor International in Senegal.

Meanwhile, the airline has announced it will now proceed with a disciplinary hearing against its current CEO, Monwabise Kalawe, suspended last year on allegations of serious misconduct.

"In as far as this is an internal matter, it is not appropriate to divulge the details of the allegations against Mr Kalawe at this stage, suffice to say that the allegations relate to serious misconduct relating, inter alia, to non-compliance with various critical policies and procedures as well as legislation, including the Public Finance Management Act, SAA’s Supply Chain Management Policy, the Job Evaluation Policy, Recruitment & Selection Policy and the Delegation of Authority Policy, gross misrepresentation (to the Minister of Public Enterprises) and failure to act at all times in the best interests of SAA," the carrier said in a statement.

In addition to its precarious financial state, the carrier has also suffered from chronic leadership deficiencies with Kalawe its fourth CEO since 2009. Kalawe's predecessor, Vuyisile Kona, was fired in March 2013 for his irregular appointment of several consultants.