South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) has missed the statutory deadline to submit its 2024/25 annual financial statements to the country's parliament, citing audit delays and a review by its newly appointed board, acting transport minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said in a letter to the National Assembly.

Ramokgopa said the state-owned airline was unable to finalise its audited financial statements by the September 30 deadline set out in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). The delay stems from complexities arising from the late completion of the 2023/24 financials and the need for additional time to ensure compliance and accuracy.

He added that SAA’s new board, appointed in August 2025, needed more time to review key disclosures and align them with governance and transparency standards.

The SAA board and executive management are working with auditors to expedite the process and expect the annual report to be ready for tabling by the end of November, the minister said.

SAA has declined to comment.

The carrier has requested deadline extensions over the last three years and had at least one year without submission. Last year, it delayed finalising its 2023/24 annual report over a disagreement with South Africa's Auditor General over how to account for revenue from expired air tickets. The airline previously failed to file its annual results for four years, blaming its 17-month business rescue process between December 2019 and the end of April 2021. On November 3, 2023, it eventually signed off its annual reports ending March 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.

In July this year, Transport Minister Barbara Creecy told the parliament during her 2025/26 budget vote speech that SAA had completed three out of four outstanding audits and posted a profit of ZAR252 million rands (USD14.7 million) for the 2022/23 financial year - its first since 2012. She said the airline now operates without government guarantees, funding its own operations and fleet growth, while remaining open to a strategic equity partner as part of its ongoing restructuring.

SAA previously acknowledged the importance of timely audited financials for legally-required accountability and the ability to raise commercial loans for operational cash flow as it can no longer rely on state bailouts.