Originally Posted by
Cheetah_SA
yet developed countries don't feel the need for a national airline.
That's simply not true. Japan and Italy are two of the more recent examples of national governments of developed countries getting heavily involved in an airline restructuring. South Africa is not at all out of line in doing everything possible to maintain a flag carrier -- it's the prerogative of a society to generally spend money as it wishes, and a means of connection with the outside world is certainly as legit as anything else worth $$$.