Mango Airline fired cabin crew over food fraud

South African Airways’ low cost airline Mango has sacked 24 cabin crew members for food fraud, according to a report.

Business Day reported on Monday that cabin crew members allegedly defrauded the airline’s in-flight catering services.

Suspicious about the amount of money being made from the sale of food and drinks, Mango placed investigators on flights, said Lihle Lethuli, SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union representative.

He said the footage purported to show staff pocketing money from the sale of coffee, tea and other beverages.

Mango spokesman Hein Kaiser said the carrier’s internal security services handled the investigation that lasted several months.

“It is almost impossible to give an accurate figure of how much (was stolen)...it was a very large amount,” he was quoted as saying.

Lethuli said the union had seen “no evidence” produced by Mango to back up its claims of catering fraud.

Kaiser said the airline had merely implemented a policy of zero tolerance against any form of dishonesty.