South Africa’s fiscal space was already limited ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic. Today, it’s close to nonexistent. The postpandemic fiscal priority, therefore, should be to ensure that every rand spent has the greatest economic and social impact possible so as to extricate the country from what could otherwise be a protracted depression. It is simply not clear that directing billions towards a ‘new’ national carrier equates to the best use of precious stimulus resources – especially given the recent characterisation of South African Airways as a sieve.