In early November 2014, four non-executive members of the SAA board “resigned”, followed by the announcement that Nico Bezuidenhout has been appointed as acting CEO to stand in for suspended CEO Monwabisi Kalawe. Mr Bezuidenhout, who is the CEO of SAA subsidiary Mango which has reported recording profits for last 2 years , acted in the role before, prior to Mr Kalawe’s appointment in April 2013. On 9th December 2014, the acting CEO announced the 90 Day Action Plan – a rapid implementation plan intent in steering SAA back to full implementation of the long-term turnaround strategy, focusing on rationalizing the route network and consolidating the fleet.
Additional frequencies to Harare, Maputo, Kinshasa and Mauritius were added, and the strengthening of its relationship with Star Alliance partner Air China, soon followed. On 11th December, SAA announced it would strengthen the partnership with Etihad Airways and announced a new daily service to Abu Dhabi which commenced on 29th March 2015, in codeshare with the Middle East carrier. However this service was dropped abrutly in January 2016, citing poor performance on the route. It also came as no surprise when the airline announced in January 2015 that it would end the loss making to Beijing route in April 2015, while the Mumbai service too was ended in March 2015.
As the airline continued to take delivery of brand new A320’s, the A319 fleet reduced in size with 3 aircraft returned as their leases expired, while no decision had been made on the long-haul fleet. In February 2015, the airline said it was close to saving $107 million, by renegotiating and extending the lease of 8 of it’s Airbus A340’s leased from Airbus and canceling an order for 10 A320 planes, part of a 20-plane purchase placed in 2002 , and replacing them with the lease of five A330-300 models.
Furthermore, an inquiry into the conduct of suspended CEO Monwabisi Kalawe was started relating to “serious misconduct” during his time as CEO of the airline. In April 2015 Kalawe , still suspended, resigned as CEO of SAA.
On 30th March 2015, acting CEO Nico Bezuidenhout announced that “SAA has returned to relative stability”, and by end of 2015 Bezuidenhout had returned to old post as head of Mango.
With incompetent senior management, political medelling and corruption, the airline continues to eek out an existence with customer satifaction and staff moral falling to all time low.
South African Airways - A Complete History 