STATE-owned South African Airways (SAA) said on Thursday it had been approached by the Senegalese government to acquire a stake in Senegal Airlines, and that this offer was under consideration.
SAA denied a report that the carrier had made an offer to the Senegalese government for a stake in Senegal Airlines.
"We have been approached by the Senegalese authorities and an offer has been presented to us for our consideration," SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali said.
He would not confirm whether SAA was interested in the offer, saying it was under consideration.
Bloomberg quoted Senegal’s Finance Minister Amadou Ba saying that the loss-making SAA, along with a few other airlines, had made offers. The agency said as much as 30% of the airline was up for sale.
"We are in open negotiations with technical partners," Mr Ba said in an interview on Thursday. "We’ve received a few offers, including one from SAA."
Paris-based Air France-KLM Group — Europe’s biggest carrier and a shareholder in Kenya Airways — was not "excluded" from the talks, Mr Ba said.
Senegal Airlines first started operations in 2011. It is jointly run by the Senegalese government and private investors, who have a 64% stake in the business. It has a fleet of four aircraft. SAA is considering the feasibility of developing a West Africa regional airport hub.
The countries under consideration include Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Gabon and Togo.
The idea was not only to boost trade between the regions of Africa, especially air cargo, but also to act as a counterweight and competition to the Middle East airport hubs, such as Dubai and Qatar.
Speaking at the airline’s annual results on Wednesday, SAA CEO Monwabisi Kalawe said this investigation was still in progress.
"At this stage we are looking at a few countries in West Africa. There is no decision by the board, we are looking at which country best meets SAA’s requirements," he said.
Public Enterprise Minister Malusi Gigaba said SAA wanted a secondary hub for their business but that the primary hub would remain OR Tambo International Airport.
"It is quite clear that we need to take advantage of the passenger numbers within Africa, in the east and west of Africa. But they need to fit into the OR Tambo hub to increase the volumes at the airport."
Senegal approaches SAA to buy stake in its national carrier | Transport & Tourism | BDlive