South African Airways (SAA) has cancelled domestic, regional and international flights scheduled for Friday, November 15 and Saturday, November 16.
Passengers are advised to not go to their departure airports during the disruption as SAA will be unable to provide any assistance.
“Information on the status of our flights will be regularly updated on our website,” according to a statement from the airline.
Only flights operated by South African Airways will be affected, while Mango, SA Express, Airlink and codeshare partners, including flights operated by SAA’s Star Alliance partner airlines will operate as normal.
Regional flights, which will operate on Friday morning, will return from Maputo (SA147), Lusaka (SA067), Harare (SA025), Windhoek (SA073), and Accra (SA210).
International flights, which will operate on Friday evening, will return from Frankfurt (SA261), New York (SA204), Munich (SA265), Hong Kong (SA287), Perth (SA281), and London (SA235).
Customers will be kept informed.
Last updated 07:50am
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) and the South African Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) plan to embark on industrial action against SAA, starting Friday, November 15.
Zazi Nsibanyoni, Sacca’s president, says SAA’s leadership has received the strike notice. “The strike could last indefinitely, until the demands of the unions are met”, said Zazi.
In response to the notice, SAA has released a statement reiterating that “any strike endangers the future of the airline and threatens jobs”.
“We have offered employees, through their unions, a 5,9% salary increase subject to the availability of funds,” said acting ceo, Zuks Ramasia. Numsa and Sacca are demanding an 8% increase.
“It should be noted that the pilots have a five-year salary agreement. SAA went to arbitration in a bid to avoid a salary increase of 5,9% as a result of the financial position of the company, but the arbitrator found in the pilots’ favour. The company is therefore legally compelled to comply with such an award.
“We have made repeated overtures to the unions to acknowledge the severity of the situation in which we find ourselves in and to work hand in hand with us to try and avert a worsening situation,” she said.
“The strike will result in a set of circumstances from which there may well be no recovery,” she said.
This is a developing story. Follow eTNW for more.
