SAA has new acting chief commercial officer

The SAA acting chief commercial officer (CCO) has quit.

Tebogo Tsimane will take over the position from Simon Newton-Smith, SAA confirmed on Thursday afternoon.

Newton-Smith will leave the airline at the end of August. 

According to SAA, Tsimane, “has several years of experience in senior roles within the commercial and operational environment at SAA”.

Newton-Smith said:

My job was to support the team in restarting SAA, rebuilding market confidence and ensure that our passenger and cargo loads were maximised during a tough operating environment. I am very proud of what the commercial team and our colleagues right across the business have achieved since our September 2021 restart

SAA is still awaiting final approval of a strategic equity partnership deal with the Takatso Consortium – announced already more than a year ago. Takatso is expected to provide much-needed capital for the airline’s continued operations – to the tune of R3 billion over a period of three years.

Takatso has made a merger application to the Competition Commission to approve the deal on an urgent basis. The application comes as critics continue to question what they regard as a lack of transparency surrounding the specifics of the deal.