SA Express’s provisional liquidators say there are several buyers who have expressed interest in the embattled airline.

Aviwe Ndyamara, one of the liquidators, said during a meeting with Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCoPA) that they were in the process of engaging with seven interested parties.

“The next route for us is to proceed with an investment or a sales process, a transparent process where we either attract an investor or, alternatively, we pursue the disposal of the assets of the airline in order to satisfy creditors’ claims,” said Ndyamara.

Following the finalisation of an interim valuation, the liquidators have reduced the value of the airline’s assets. “When we took office, the estimated assets of SAX were quantified at R1,8 billion. These past five weeks, in light of the COVID-19 and various other challenges, we’ve reduced that to R113 million,” said Ndyamara. 

He said it was important to consider the termination of “onerous” lease agreements, but this might result in an impact on licences. The airline had two licences that were set to expire on July 31, therefore liquidators hoped to complete a sales or investment agreement before that, he said.

Employees’ unpaid salaries would become payable once secured creditors were paid out, he said, adding, though, that it was unclear at this stage if there would be residue for the payment of employee claims.