SAA facing turbulence as pilots strike amid pay dispute, passengers advised to seek alternatives

5 Dec 2024

The strike by SAA pilots resulted in some domestic, regional, and international flights being delayed or canceled on Thursday, 5 December 2024. There is no indication that the strike, linked to a deadlock in pay negotiations, will come to an end any time soon.

Travel agencies are urging passengers who have booked domestic and international flights with South African Airways (SAA) to make alternative arrangements in the wake of an indefinite strike by the state-owned airline’s pilots.

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At least two travel agencies including Flight Centre and Corporate Traveller have issued travel advisories, informing passengers to change their flights as SAA pilots confirmed their strike action, starting Thursday, 5 December 2024. Meanwhile, SAA has remained quiet, barring a media statement on Tuesday, 3 December, saying that it was committed to resolving a dispute with its pilots, related to their pay demands.

The deadlock in pay negotiations resulted in some SAA flights being delayed or cancelled on Thursday — mainly the airline’s international routes, including Perth (Australia), Sao Paulo (Brazil), and Mauritius. SAA’s flights to the rest of Africa were also cancelled including Harare (Zimbabwe), Lusaka (Zambia), Lubumbashi (DRC), Windhoek (Namibia), and Accra (Ghana). For the international and regional routes, SAA couldn’t find partner airlines that it could transfer passengers to.

According to Corporate Traveller, SAA’s domestic routes have also been affected by the strike. The routes include Johannesburg to/from Cape Town and Johannesburg to/from Durban. The timing of flight disruptions is horrible for SAA because December is traditionally a busy period for the air travel industry, and if the strike is protracted the airline will probably miss out on the holiday bonanza.

The SAA Pilots Association and the National Transport Movement, two trade unions that represent 141 of 161 staff at SAA, confirmed the start of an indefinite strike on Thursday after failed pay negotiations.

The last time SAA faced labour instability and pilots threatened to strike was in September 2019 — months before the airline submitted itself for business rescue, a process designed to rehabilitate financially distressed companies.

Deadlocked negotiations

SAA has been locked in pay negotiations with pilots for months, since early 2024.

SAA pilots initially tabled a pay increase demand of 30%, which they have since pared down to 15.7% (plus associated benefits). Meanwhile, SAA offered a final pay increase of 8.46% backdated to April 2024. SAA said an 8.46% increase “is significantly higher than the general salary increases in South Africa in 2024”, was in line with the increase offered to the rest of SAA’s staff members, and was benchmarked against international pilot salary adjustments.

SAA has also argued that it cannot afford a double-digit pay increase because its financial and operational affairs are still stabilising after it exited business rescue in April 2021. However, the pilots argue that SAA is in a stronger financial position and can afford their pay demands. Underscoring the improvements in SAA’s position is that the airline claims to have recorded a profit of R252-million during the year ending March 2023. This was revealed by the interim board at an annual general meeting attended by Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy a few weeks ago.

In an astonishing turnaround, the interim board published this information on Wednesday, 20 November:

Group revenue up from prior year with 183%, from R 2-billion to R5.7-billion in 2022/23.

Net profit of R252-million.

Positive equity of R4.7-billion in the business — a welcome improvement after many years of negative equity.

SAA last turned a profit in 2011. Since 2018, SAA has racked up financial losses of R28.9-billion and received bailouts of R48-billion from taxpayers. SAA is running a smaller aviation operation after emerging from business rescue, helping it to contain costs and become profitable.

The SAA of today leases 16 aircraft, flying fewer than 20 times a day. Before the airline entered business rescue, it leased about 52 aircraft, flying more than 20 times a day on domestic, regional, and international routes.

Read more: After the Bell: Is state-owned airline SAA really flying into profitability?

Interim SAA CEO John Lamola said that if the airline were to give in to the 15.7% pay increase demanded by the pilots, then SAA would “decline into bankruptcy”, and this would force it to rely on more bailouts for survival.

The trade unions representing SAA pilots are not sympathetic to the airline’s operational and financial troubles.

SAA Pilots Association and National Transport Movement said in a joint statement: “Employees have made significant sacrifices in the last couple of years. They have suffered huge pay cuts, endured stagnant salaries and eroding working conditions, this in support of the airline during its most challenging period in recent history.

“Our struggle is not for personal gain but about fairness, operational safety, and ensuring the best possible future for our airline and its passengers. The strike action will be short, effective and focused,” the unions said. DM

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Deadlocked negotiations