Travel News

Sfundo Parakozov

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 5 (Reuters) – South African Airways said it had cancelled flights to Perth and Sao Paulo on Thursday after receiving confirmation from the SAA Pilots Association that they planned to strike following a deadlock in pay talks.

The company decided to cancel the Perth and Sao Paulo routes last night after being told the strike planned for Thursday would go ahead, Khaya Buthelezi, the airline’s senior manager of corporate relations, told Reuters.

“That’s the decision we took last night since we could not find partner airlines that we can transfer our customers to, it became clear that those two routes must be cancelled,” he said.

Early on Thursday, there were no disruptions to domestic flights and routes across Africa as the airline had made contingency plans, he said.

Some pilots were seen picketing outside the SAA office at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, Buthelezi said.

The SAA Pilots Association (SAAPA) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

SAAPA’s initial demand proposed in May was for a 30% increase in pilot salaries, which was subsequently reduced to 15.7%, including associated benefits, SAA said in a statement earlier this week.

The company’s interim Chief Executive Officer John Lamola said in that statement that the demand for a 15.7% pay rise would trigger the company’s decline into bankruptcy.

The airline has offered an 8.46% pay increase backdated to April.

The national carrier was on the verge of being liquidated before it entered a form of bankruptcy protection in 2019.

(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov, Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Jane Merriman)