SAA’s comeback story appears to have hit fresh turbulence with the resignation of group CEO John Lamola and three board members.
While no explicit reasons have been provided for Lamola’s resignation, industry observers are asking whether governance tensions, rather than purely operational considerations, are at play.
Commenting on his resignation, Lamola said that with more than four years at the helm, he was the longest-serving CEO and director at the airline, where the average tenure for a CEO since 2001 has been two years and six months.
“The current board was appointed in August 2025. One of the three members who resigned was deputy chair Fathima Gany. There are plans, supported by the shareholder, to ensure that SAA stays on the course of sustainable recovery,” he said.
Aviation expert Guy Leitch said: “To be honest, I thought Lamola was doing OK. He wasn’t obviously being pressured politically. He didn’t seem to be running a crooked ship ... most importantly, he was managing a steady or measured return to rebuilding the airline.
“He wasn’t rushing into stuff for the sake of prestige. So for all of those reasons I was giving him an okay mark.”
The cards started falling two months ago when the CFO retired, and it was a surprise because it was two days before the financial year end. When does a CFO leave just before the year end?
— Guy Leitch, aviation expert
Lamola’s resignation follows the recent retirement of acting CFO Lindsay Olitzki just before the 2026 financial year end. Aviation experts say that, taken together, the developments point to instability at both board and executive level — an issue that has historically undermined the airline.
“The cards started falling two months ago when the CFO retired, and it was a surprise because it was two days before the financial year end,” said Leitch. “When does a CFO leave just before the year end?”
SAA’s Executive Corporate Affairs Mphilo Dlamini said Olitzki “reached the prescribed retirement age last year but she agreed to stay on until the end of the financial year”.
There are also renewed doubts about SAA’s financial position, although the airline has signalled a return to profitability. In February SAA said it had recorded a R155m net profit for the year to March 2025 and that airline operations had recorded a R30m profit for the same period. Revenue was up 35.89% to R8.8bn.
Lamola said at the time that the results “demonstrate that despite numerous challenges, SAA is on course for a bright future”.
“We have entered a period of structured and strategic stabilisation of the business, focusing on institutionalising robust governance and agile management systems,” he said.
“We are continuing to implement plans on aircraft fleet modernisation and route network expansion aimed at the elevation of the customer experience.”
Leitch has raised questions about SAA’s claim that it made a profit in 2025.
“So obviously, [transport] minister [Barbara] Creecy is really wielding the axe, and clearly Lamola was not up to the job … given that this is going to be a really tough year for the airline," he said. “It does make sense that she is cleaning the house at this stage.”
“SAA refutes the assertion and claim that our financial results are misleading, incorrect or cannot be relied upon,” said Dlamini.
Creecy praised Lamola, who served as chair of SAA’s interim board from July 2021 before assuming the role of CEO in 2022, saying that he had “led SAA during a defining period in its history”.
Lamola’s tenure coincided with the rebirth of SAA after business rescue. Under his leadership, the airline expanded from a skeletal operation of five aircraft and six routes to a fleet of 19 aircraft serving 17 destinations. International routes to São Paulo and Perth were restored, and domestic operations strengthened.
I don’t know the reason, but it’s bad news for SAA and the aviation industry. We should really avoid such things that destabilise the entities, especially those already with a history of instability
— Phuthego Mojapelo, aviation analyst
Creecy said: “Prof Lamola took on the leadership of SAA at a critical juncture, as the airline emerged from business rescue and navigated the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Under his stewardship, SAA implemented a disciplined and focused rebuilding strategy, restoring operations and re-establishing its position within a highly competitive global aviation market.”
The state-owned airline has spent more than a decade lurching between crises and attempted revivals. Leitch said it still has “enormous challenges”.
He said the airline is not “achieving the loads and the yield. People aren’t paying enough for their tickets … I’m hearing stories of planes flying half full, and you can’t make money in this market unless you’re at least 70%-75% full, and that’s with good ticket prices as well.
“They’re running in the rough, just in terms of the flights they’re flying.”
SAA has other structural problems, including aircraft availability. “A lot of their aircraft are obsolete and fuel inefficient, which means they cannot compete with international operators,” said Leitch.
“They cannot afford to buy new aircraft to get back to flying to New York, Europe and London and so on because they don’t have the capital and, quite frankly, their income statement is too weak to support major lease repayments.”
Commenting on the resignations, aviation analyst Phuthego Mojapelo said that while it was not clear why Lamola had resigned, “SAA is doing well and is moving towards the right direction. The last thing that you need is instability, because once you move a person like Prof Lamola, who has been spearheading all the restructuring, [and] resumption of the routes together with the executive team … it’s disappointing.
“I don’t know the reason, but it’s bad news for SAA and the aviation industry. We should really avoid such things that destabilise the entities, especially those already with a history of instability.”
SAA’s board has appointed Matshela Seshibe, the CEO of the airline’s subsidiary company Air Chefs, as acting group CEO. It said the process to recruit a permanent CEO will commence shortly.
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