SAA accused of another breach

Civil action against senior executive and several other staffers underway.

- Hein Kaiser

Airlink has confirmed that a second raft of sensitive business data made it into the hands of one of its competitors, South African Airways (SAA).

It was, allegedly taken by former staffer and now senior SAA executive Carla da Silva, who allegedly distributed it to her colleagues at the state-owned company.

Airlink chief executive Rodger Foster said SAA admitted to the second breach recently.

"Subsequent to the breach that was the focus of the initial case, SAA has confirmed to Airlink that Da Silva distributed to her colleagues a copy of Airlink's current sales and marketing budget which includes details and codes for every line item [featured]," he said.

"This is highly sensitive and confidential information."

A marketing budget is a window into the commercial operations of any business. It directly reflects the strategic priorities of a business, indicates market focus and spending intention and also hints at financial health.

This kind of information, said an aviation consultant, could provide competitors with insights that could allow them to counteract or undermine a competing airline's efforts.