State-owned airline SA Express is unable to satisfy the auditor-general that it can meet the solvency and liquidity tests of the Companies Act and that it can continue to operate as a going concern.

Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown broke this news to Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete.

Brown said she was therefore unable to table the airline’s 2015-16 annual financial statements before the deadline on Friday.

SAA was in a similar position for about a year as it waited for Treasury to grant it a going-concern guarantee of R4.7 billion which it did earlier this month. This brought the airline’s total guarantee to R19 billion.

SA Express is also dependent on state guarantees‚ which currently amount to R1.1 billion. It required an additional guarantee in 2014-15 to fund its working capital and asset-based finance facilities.

The fact that the auditor-general was not able to confirm the airline’s going-concern status when he did so in the 2014-15 financial year means that its financial situation has deteriorated‚ reports Business Day