A trip to IATA's annual general meeting in Rio de Janeiro reveals that South African Airways still gets a lot of love in the global aviation community, but the government's policies, not so much.

"I don't think privatisation is the answer. You need to have an open market," was the frank assessment from Irishman Willie Walsh, the outgoing director-general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), when asked what the turnaround strategy should be for South Africa's embattled national carrier, SAA.

The airline veteran also said it was not arrogance for the country to still be seduced by the prestige of operating a national airline. "I wouldn't call it arrogance because, to be honest, you know, I ran British Airways. It was privatised in 1987, but still people saw it as the national carrier. So, it is just human nature."

Daily Maverick was part of a sizeable global media contingent, flown to and hosted by IATA at the organisation's 82nd annual general meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It was the first time for the newly minted interim SAA chief executive Matshela Seshibe to be attending the conference. He seemed calm but slightly overwhelmed while chatting on the bus to the Boeing-hosted welcome reception, and spoke of positive interactions with airline CEOs from the Star Alliance (there are two mandatory alliance meetings per year and one happens at the IATA AGM).

The other large...