Tshepo Mahloele on SAA: 'Travel will come back, trade will come back.'

Last week, our partners at Bloomberg reported that South Africa had agreed to sell a majority stake in the country’s grounded national carrier to a local jet-leasing company and private-equity firm. The news was received with a collective sigh of relief, as SAA has been a drain on state finances for far too long. A consortium comprised of Johannesburg-based Global Airways, which owns recently launched domestic airline Lift, and private-equity firm Harith General Partners will take a 51% shareholding in South African Airways. Tshepo Mahloele, the Chief Executive Officer at Harith, is one of the originators of the $630m Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund. Mahloele has partnered with Gidon Novick, the co-founder of Lift, who has stepped back into the industry he was born into nine years after stepping down as CEO of Comair. With these two at the helm, SAA may just have a fighting chance. BizNews founder Alec Hogg spoke to Tshepo Mahloele about their newest venture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices