A plan for SAA to resume operations has not yet been agreed.
The ailing airline has been working to implement its business rescue plan.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan faced-off with MPs for two consecutive days this week, where he was forced to defend government’s decision to give SAA a R10.5 billion bailout.
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said that SAA still had a role to play in the country’s economy and allocating it R10.5 billion was a better option than liquidation.
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni warned that public finances needed to be rehabilitated as efforts went into helping the economy to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni made the announcement while delivering his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament.
They said that all existing cargo and repatriation flights would be undertaken but no new ones would be accepted.
The Public Enterprises Department said that it was confident that the R10.4 billion needed for the restructured carrier would be made available to the practitioners very soon.
Public Enterprises Director-General Kgathatso Thaludi said that government had committed to providing billions of rands to restructure SAA and now needed to establish a mechanism through which to channel the funds.
The DPE said all conditions for the business plan were met and implemented, and it was now in the final stages to complete the process.
They said all conditions for a rescue plan for the airline were met, apart from the letter required by lenders from the government.
The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) said that SAA pilots had been making unreasonable and unaffordable demands, with some wanting to secure severance packages of up to 60% more than what's being offered.
The Public Enterprises Department said that five unions, including the National Metalworkers Union of South Africa (Numsa) and the SA Cabin Crew Association (Sacca), had endorsed the plan. However, they have not yet been available for comment.
This comes after a meeting on Friday where the department indicated its decision to withdraw from the leadership consultative forum established to find the best way to restructure SAA.
The unions say they are exploring their legal option to stop the liquidation of troubled the national airline and SA Express, following the Finance Minister's statement that there will be no more bailouts for SAA.
In a statement, government said that the National Transport Movement, South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, the Aviation Union of Southern Africa and Solidarity had stepped forward to take up the deal.
Judgment has been reserved in the appeal case between the South African Airways (SAA) business rescue practitioners (BRP) and three workers' unions.
The Democratic Alliance (DA)’s Alf Lees said that the business rescue process should ideally have ended in December and the rescue team should have applied to court for liquidation back then.
