What is happening to Mango Airlines? The business rescue practitioner (BRP) for Mango Airlines (MNO, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo), Sipho Sono, has said he will proceed with the sale of the budget carrier from state-owned South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) to a still-unnamed investor. The move follows a protracted legal battle between Mango’s administrators and the South African government. In a status report released this week, Sono said he was “pleased to announce that he is now entitled to assume” that he can go ahead with the 100% sale of the low-cost carrier. The BRP said he would press ahead with selling the airline after public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan failed to meet a deadline set by the High Court in Pretoria to decide on the proposed sale as required by the Public Finance Management Act. Sono said he had written to the minister on January 31 telling him he assumed the approval had been granted “by operation of section 54(3) of the Public Finance Management Act” and “accordingly, the BRP will now proceed with the investor process, the effect of which will be the outright sale of Mango to the successful bidder identified by the BRP in August 2022.” The decision comes after months of legal wrangling between Sono and Gordhan, who had insisted that he wanted to see the business case of the preferred bidder, which was revealed in early 2023 to be South African consortium Ubuntu Air Services, before making a decision on the sale. Sono accused Gordhan of “recalcitrance” and putting the potential rescue of the airline – which suspended flight operations at the end of July 2021 – at risk. Mango was grounded due to non-payments and debt to ACSA (Airports Company of South Africa) on 28 April 2021. No Mango airliners were allowed to either depart or land at any ACSA airport in South Africa as of 28 April 2021. Only a statement of apology was issued by the company. As of then, it was to be seen if any money from government which was granted to South African Airways (of which Mango is a subsidiary) was to be allocated to Mango as a bailout. However it never resumed operations and in August 2022, the South African authorities suspended the airlines license altogether for at least two years. Mango was launched on 30 October 2006, with bookings going on sale at midnight on the same date. Mango’s first flight took place on 15 November 2006. Mango planned to join Star Alliance as a Connecting Partner in the third quarter of 2016, but the plan has been put on hold due to South African Airways’ financial state. Sono stressed by way of conclusion to his 27th status update report on the matter that he “remains of the opinion that there is a reasonable prospect of rescuing the company, or that the BR Proceedings would result in a better outcome for creditors and the shareholder of the company than would otherwise be achieved should the company be placed in liquidation.” The Department of Public Enterprises has so far not issued a statement in relation to the report, while the powerful National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) called on Gordhan on February 6 to approve the sale of Mango instead of “wasting taxpayers’ time and money”. Ownership Mango was 100% owned by South African Airways, which is itself owned by the government of South Africa, but Mango operates independently as a low-cost airline with its own Board and balance sheet. Head office Mango’s head office was at OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, on the mezzanine level of the Domestic Departure Terminal. Business trends Financial and operational figures for Mango were fully incorporated within the SAA Group figures. Not all the results in the Group reports are broken down to subsidiary level, however, and therefore some figures below are from press reports.[9][10] As of March 2020, no results for Mango have been released for 2018 and 2019 because SAA has not itself released its Group results. (Figures below as at year ending 31 March:) 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Turnover (Rm) 1,360 1,942 2,200 2,300 2,143 Net Profit/Loss before tax (Rm) 40.3 38.0 −36.9 Net Profit/Loss after tax (Rm) loss 10.9 13.7 0.3 c. −92.8 39.1 −16.1 12.5 Number of passengers (m) 1.5 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.3 2.5 3.0 2.9 Passenger load factor (%) 86 77 81.3 82.4 81.0 83.2 Number of staff (at year end) 598 713 Number of aircraft (at year end) 4 4 4 5 7 6 8 9 10 10 Destinations Before having all of its flights grounded on 28 April 2021, Mango served the following destinations: Country City Airport Notes South Africa Bloemfontein Bram Fischer International Airport Cape Town Cape Town International Airport Focus city Durban King Shaka International Airport East London East London Airport George George Airport Gqeberha Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport Johannesburg O. R. Tambo International Airport Hub Tanzania Zanzibar Zanzibar International Airport Historical Fleet Mango Boeing 737-800 As of July 2021, the Mango fleet consisted of the following aircraft: Mango Fleet Aircraft In Fleet Introduced Retired Passengers Notes Boeing 737-300 1 2015 2016 148 1 2017 2019 Boeing 737-800 4 2006 2020 186 1 2011 1 2012 2 2013 1 2014 2021 3 2015 4 2018 Airbus A320-200 1 2018 2019 180 Total 19 Services In-flight services As a low-cost airline, Mango featured a uniform fleet of aircraft with high seating density. Mango also offered online ticketing. A standard booking did not include food and drinks. Mango offered a buy on board programme offering food and drinks for purchase. Mango provided an in-flight magazine Mango Juice and used to offer Mango TV, a former daily in flight entertainment programme viewable on the drop-down televisions placed throughout the aircraft. In-flight Wi-Fi was also available on all flights for a fee. Wi-Fi services were provided by G-Connect, a local internet broadband provider. Frequent-flyer program South African Airways Voyager members could redeem SAA Voyager miles with Mango, but were not yet able to earn SAA Voyager miles with Mango. No other SAA Voyager benefits, such as additional baggage, upgrades or lounge access, were applicable when using SAA Voyager miles to pay for a Mango flight.