A "proud to be SAA" has surfaced and doesn't come up with a rational response. Of course they should be "quite content", so would I if my employer was in such financial trouble that it needed a massive handout and there was a government that still hasn't learnt about austerity ready to help with that bail-out!! (Throwing massive amounts of state money around was what got the Portuguese, Irish, Greeks, Spanish and Italians into trouble, so watch this space...)
As The Ancient Geek has said, this is noting about 'hating' any airline or group of people. It's all about questioning obviously flawed airline business models. It would have just been interesting to see if someone from the 'inside' could come up with a rational 'defence'. Obviously not! (As Shrike has said, some convincing facts would be welcome.)
The B737-800 fleet has been mentioned because that is what the CEO mentioned in that article. It is not a particularly big fleet. But the A340 as well? Wow!! That will cost a lot (and it is not a 'massively' big fleet either). Why can't SAA make money with relatively new aeroplanes that many other airlines manage to operate (without government bail-outs) in other parts of the world? (For example, a competitor on a couple of SAA's routes, Virgin Atlantic, has a larger fleet of A340s. They are renewing their fleet with orders for very modern aeroplanes... but with no government bail-out!!! And they have a far more expensive 'home' operating environment.)
Maybe there is a better management in SAA but if they were privatised would the markets be "...willing to give them a chance"? Should the SA taxpayers be happy about where their money is going? Should the private airlines that are trying to compete be happy about this state bias to the market?
Try being proud of something that can stand on it's own two feet, rather than a shallow 'pride' in something that is on life-support. "Long live SAA!"?? Only until the government umbilical cord dries up in the way that it has done in so many other countries that have splashed money around. Wouldn't it be so much better if SAA could 'live long' through its own efforts?