A CASE of fraud may
have sounded the
death knell for the
South African Travel Centre
(SATC) group, a wholly
owned SAA subsidiary.
While SAA would not
answer any questions on
how many, if any, agencies
were still part of the
group and how these were
ticketing, TNW understands
that the group’s Iata
licence ceased on May 4
due to a case of fraud.
While the Iata logo was
still displayed on the
group’s website earlier this
month, it has since been
removed and the website
has been replaced a basic
website displaying no SAA
branding.
In January, an SATC ITC
told TNW that it had fallen
victim to client credit card
fraud amounting to roughly
R1 million (TNW February 7,
2018).
Earlier this year, 22 SATC
members moved across to
the XL Travel Group. Marco
Ciocchetti, ceo, told TNW
that this included four
agencies with their own
Iata licences and 18 non
Iata agencies.
The group, which once
claimed a footprint
spanning beyond South
Africa to Gaborone,
Maseru, Lusaka and Accra
and consisting of more
than 80 members in 2008,
shrunk to fewer than 50
members in 2015.
The decline came after a
failed attempt to privatise
the group, which was up
for sale in 2014. Then
ceo, Bulelwa Koyana, said
at the time that there had
been interest in SATC
from a number of industry
players over the years but
no sale materialised. TNW
understands that the price
wasn’t right. XL Travel was
rumoured to be in talks
with SAA to purchase SATC
at that time.
In 2016, SATC and XL
Travel signed an MoU to
collaborate on preferred
suppliers’ contracts.
