"Pursuant to a request for the consent from creditors for the extension of the publication of the plan, the holders of a majority of the creditors’ voting interest voted in favour of the extension of the publication of the plan to 15 June 2020," BRPs Les Matuson and Siviwe Dongwana said in a statement.

The extension follows a request by trade unions to be allowed more time to study a draft plan prepared by the pair, who were appointed as the business rescue team for the stricken airline in December.

Lawyers for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, the South African Cabin Crew Association and the South African Airways Pilots Association, who represent almost two-thirds of staff at the airline, have asked for more time for consultations after the plan was leaked to the media last week.

In terms of the draft plan, government would agree to inject a further R21 billion into the loss-making airline.

Of that sum, R16 billion would go towards the company's creditors. A further R2 billion will serve as working capital in the aftermath of the global coronavirus crisis, and a further R2 billion would cover the cost of retrenching workers.

The business rescue practitioners have been locked in an increasingly tense and public standoff with public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan over resources and the fate of the airline. 

Gordhan has insisted that their work culminate in a plan to turn the airline into a sustainable enterprise, while Matuson and Dongwana have said that the government's refusal to commit more funding, coupled with the impact of the global pandemic, had bedevilled their task.

African News Agency