Yes indeed, the hatchet men are in town. The Seabury team have been here for the last 2 weeks. Every department in the airline has been grilled on what they spend money on. Seabury will then cut where they feel is appropriate. Having seen this operation first hand -its ruthless and Im very sure they will come up with the required. reduction in expenditure both in SA and overseas. This is the first step in the restructure- once the results are quantified, the staff compliment will be looked at- already a great deal of duplication has been identified and will be addressed by moving the staff to departments that require manpower in the short term. Then its off to the unions….honestly Im glad I don’t have that job- with all the shenanigans the top dogs have pulled over the last few years they are doing to have a hard time negotiating!
At the same time a separate team is overhauling the sales and distribution function of the airline- specifically targeting distribution cost- again major improvements have been achieved- and will lead to serious cost reduction on an ongoing basis.
Some of the long-haul routes are not making money- the reasons vary by route, but are mostly redeemable- provided fundamental corrective action is taken immediately. Steps to address this are being presented to the board in early April and if the board agrees no-one is going to be very happy with the outcome but it will deliver the cost savings and improve route profitability.