Passengers on the South African Airways (SAA) flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town on Thursday were greeted on their departure by singing and dancing airline staff.

The government agreed in June to sell a 51 percent stake to a group of investors called the Takatso Consortium, opening the way to a potential injection of $200m.

In addition to the domestic route that resumed on Thursday, SAA plans to begin regional services next week to Accra, Kinshasa, Lusaka, Harare and Maputo.

Chief Finance Officer Fikile Mhlontlo said this week that the airline’s fleet is down to six planes, from a previous 46.

SAA low-cost subsidiary Mango remains grounded and in bankruptcy proceedings.

Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, reporting from Johannesburg, said an investigation into corruption at SAA has shown that at least $30m in recent years had been misappropriated, including through links to irregular contracts.

“So the issues around SAA is one of many examples around state-owned enterprises in South Africa, where widespread corruption has been problematic,” Miller said.

“South African Airlines has been bleeding public funds for a long time and many in this country would say it’s an airline that is not needed … and so many are interested to see if it’s able to get off the ground and it’s sustainable”.