Etihad Airways has option of South African Airways stake

"Etihad as a carrier is well known to take minority stakes in various entities and that option would be available to Etihad,” said SAA chief executive officer Nico Bezuidenhout. 

Analyst Saj Ahmad commented: “Etihad's strategy of buying piecemeal stakes in other carriers firmly puts ailing South African Airways on its radar. While there's no guarantee something will yet materialise given the heavy involvement and investment that Etihad has made in Jet Airways and Alitalia, South African Airways (SAA) does however represent better value given that this is an underserved market space with few competitors. 

"The challenge however, would be recapitalising SAA so that it can invest in a new fleet and trim losses by getting rid of fuel guzzling jets like the A340-600 and pare down loss making routes. While South Africa and the neighbouring region has a big viable market, Etihad will no doubt be weighing up just what sort of investment is actually needed before pulling the trigger."