Restructuring to save South African Airways $47 bn, but affect 944 jobs

South Africa's SAA's restructuring plan will be finalised by March next year and should save the firm 700 million rand ($47 million), the executive team at the ailing state airline told a media briefing on Tuesday.

"If you look at the 944 employees (who could lose their jobs), it's estimated, depending on how the process pans out, it could save the company about 700 million rand. Our communications to labour and employees is to have this process finalised by the end of March next year," said South African Airways' Martin Kemp.

Earlier on Tuesday the company said it had started consultations with its more than 5,000 staff and labour unions about cutting jobs to bringing down its massive debt, including a 21.7 billion rand funding gap, that has forced government to repeatedly bail it out.