SAA and pilots reach agreement: flight operations set to normalise amid ongoing discussions

South African Airways (SAA) announced early on Saturday that the pilots’ strike, which began on Thursday, had been suspended following successful wage negotiations with the South African Airways Pilots’ Association (Saapa). The resolution was expected to restore SAA’s operations to a full flight schedule by Sunday.

Although the strike has been suspended, a  source close to the matter told Daily Maverick that negotiations about improving work-life balance issues for the pilots were ongoing. The pilots are eager to get back to work, recover the schedule and get their passengers to where they need to go while the negotiations take place.

Salary negotiations reportedly resulted in an additional 1% increase for pilots, bringing the total increase to 9.47%.

“As part of the agreement that broke the deadlock in wage negotiations, engagements on a continuous enterprise improvement programme will continue over the next eight weeks,” said SAA’s interim chief executive officer, Professor John Lamola, on Saturday.

“We are committed to implementing work-life concessions that should enhance the productivity of our world-acclaimed pilots.”

By midday on Saturday, more than 100 pilots had returned to duty and the airline resumed regular operations.

Two days of disruption

The strike, spearheaded by the SAA Pilots Association and the National Transport Movement (two trade unions that represent 141 of 161 staff at SAA) began on Thursday after failed pay negotiations, which have been going on since the beginning of the year.

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

SAA pilots initially demanded a 30% pay increase but later revised this to 15.7%. In April, SAA offered 8.46%, which it framed as competitive and in line with international benchmarks.

The airline argued that it couldn’t afford a double-digit pay increase because its financial and operational affairs were still stabilising after it exited business rescue in April 2021. However, the pilots argued that SAA was in a stronger financial position and could afford their pay demands.

On 20 November, the airline announced at its annual general meeting that it had achieved a net profit of R252-million, moving into profitable territory for the first time since 2012.  Total revenue increased by 183%, from R2-billion the previous year to R5.7-billion.

The strike caused significant flight disruptions across domestic and international routes, with the airline unable to secure alternative carriers to accommodate passengers on international routes such as Perth, São Paulo and Mauritius, and regional routes, including Harare, Lusaka and Windhoek.

While the strike caused significant disruption to SAA’s flight schedule, not all of the airline’s pilots joined it.

On day one of the strike, SAA operated 39 of 47 planned flights — 66% of domestic flights, 30% of regional flights and 33% of international routes.

“Despite some alterations and restrictions to the SAA schedule and services during this period, SAA remains operational and continues to serve its passengers,” said Lamola on Thursday, when he described the situation as “regrettable”.

Affected passengers were re-accommodated wherever possible, with codeshare agreements and hotel stays offered to mitigate the impact. SAA also maintained constant communication with customers, providing updates via its website and call centres. DM