So the SAA-Takatso deal has crashed and burned, now what?

It's no surprise to him that South African Airways' R3 billion deal with the Takatso Consortium has fallen apart, remarks Bruce Whitfield.

"I suggested ideology and greed were always going to get in the way of a deal whose terms were agreed three years ago, with a lot of shifting of positions in the interim."

The announcement followed almost three years of negotiations with the  Consortium, as a private equity partner for SAA.

RELATED: Gordhan announces that SAA-Takatso deal is off

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan cited the fact that SAA's assets are now worth far more than they were during the pandemic when Takatso was selected as the preferred bidder.

The partnership would have seen government sell 51% of its shares in the airline.

Whitfield gets comment from Gidon Novic, co-founder of LIFT Airline, and former CEO of Comair.

Novic is a former member of Takatso, which he exited about a year ago.

He expresses disappointment at the turn of events, saying the project had been something aspirational and potentially inspirational.

"Really, we thought it had the potential to become something quite special, not only commercially... something that really could have been an icon for the nation, carrying the South African flag."

"But a year ago we realised it was going to be a dead end; we weren't being fed any information, and fortunately we pulled out."

Gidon Novick, Co-founder - LIFT Airline

Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, suggested on Thursday that a deal for SAA might not be off the table completely.

Does the airline still present a viable business case?

One thing Novic says he found encouraging during Gordhan's announcement, is the Minister stating there will be no more taxpayer funding for SAA.

"I know that has been said before and promises broken, but at least it's on record. SAA needs to be viable on its own and private capital could help... skills definitely are critical..." 

"With this experience, one also has to look critically at what went wrong, so it would need to be a different set of circumstances. And remember, the market's also moved on..."

Gidon Novick, Co-founder - LIFT Airline