SAA Releases Audited Financial Results for FY 2023/24

At the Annual General Meeting on 17 July 2025, South African Airways SOC Limited (SAA) "proudly" presented its audited financial results for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2024 (FY2023/24).

This marks the second full year since SAA flew out of the business rescue nest back in April 2021. The company managed to rake in a whopping R7.0 billion in revenue, which is a 23% increase from last year. However, the Group also reported a bit of a financial face-plant with a net loss of R354 million, compared to the R210 million claimed profit they were bragging about the year before.

Aside from the R415 million foreign-currency translation loss thanks to the Rand's rollercoaster ride, these results showcase how outside forces have been giving the airline a hard time. For starters, the Ukraine conflict decided to play havoc with SAA's jet fuel costs, launching them from R1.3 billion to a sky-high R1.9 billion over the year. Then there’s the global aircraft shortage, which sent leasing costs soaring by over 30% in 2023. This was definitely not helped by SAA's less-than-favourable credit score. To top it all off, the budgeted aircraft deliveries decided to take their sweet time, leaving revenue and EBITDA feeling the pinch. EBITDA, which was happily sitting at a positive R436 million last year, took a nosedive to a negative R90 million.

SAA is sitting pretty on a cash pile of R1.4 billion at the end of FY2023/24. This airline's got no loans weighing it down, thanks to a string of taxpayer bailouts and, of course, writing off all debt in the business rescue process, including what they owe other local airlines. SAAv2.0 is flying high with R6.4 billion in equity.

Even with the world playing hide and seek with aircraft, SAA managed to juggle an average fleet of ten aircraft in 2023-24, flying to 15 destinations. They cranked up the number of flights by 42%, with a big boost in trips across Africa. The airline decided to add some samba to its schedule, relaunching routes from Johannesburg and Cape Town to São Paulo in the second half of the year.

Prof. John Lamola, the now permanent Group CEO, claimed: “These results detail a past phase of intense uncertainty in the resuscitation of SAA, a period when the assumption of the company's control by the strategic equity partner was awaited. Since then, we have entered a period of structured and strategic reconstruction of the business, focusing on institutionalising robust governance and management systems, whilst implementing plans on aircraft fleet modernisation and route network expansion aimed at the elevation of customer experience”.

The FY2023/24 financial statements are like the grand finale of a dramatic soap opera, wrapping up the last of those pesky audits from the Business Rescue saga. All the plot twists from previous years have finally been untangled. Picture this: SAA thought it hit the jackpot with a R431 million gain by waving goodbye to some business rescue creditor obligations and calling it "sundry income." But hold on, the auditors swooped in like the ultimate party poopers, declaring that this windfall should've been a flashback moment, a prior-period adjustment to retained earnings, not a surprise guest in this year's income. So, the Group's financial story had to be rewritten, turning a R71 million happy ending into a R354 million plot twist of a loss.

To boost its financial report card, SAA’s Board has rolled out an Audit Health Plan, think of it as a fitness regime for its accounting system. This plan tightens up key controls, pumps up the internal audit team like they're training for the money Olympics, and builds a team with external auditors. After six audits in just three years, SAA claim they are back on track, ready to hit all those reporting deadlines and aim for gold in the audit results. This, of course, remains to be seen.

Lamola added: “The FY2023/24 results reflect significant progress in SAA’s financial health. We have strengthened the channels of our revenue streams and cost containment measures; we have a debt-free, asset-rich balance sheet that is supporting the steady growth of the airline and the recovery of SAA as a global aviation brand. This evident recovery of SAA could not have been achieved without the support of our Shareholder Representative, Minister Barbara Creecy and the Department of Transport, the principled leadership and guidance of the Chairperson, Mr Derek Hanekom, and the steadfast commitment of the SAA Interim Board”.