South Africa Airways: ‘on the road to recovery’

With all intercontinental and some regional flights now back in operation, while domestic services are being carried out by sister airline Mango, South African Airways (SAA) is “on the road to operational recovery”, it claimed in a statement today (November 19).

“We thank SAA employees who are back at work and those employees who have not joined the industrial action,” said SAA acting CEO Zuks Ramasia.

Rumasia then again called on all of the airline’s employees involved in the ongoing labour protests to return to work.

All flights to the airline’s eight destinations beyond Africa are now operating as usual. And SAA is today resuming flights to six destinations on the African continent: namely Accra, Lagos, Lusaka, Maputo, Windhoek and Harare.

According to an SAA statement released today, “A growing number of our employees do not support the strike. Ever more workers are coming back to work, and this is evidenced by the increasing number of flights we are operating.”

Among the many costs to SAA accruing as a result of the ongoing industrial unrest, the carrier pointed to SAA Cargo revenue losses.

“The cost of the reputational damage to the company is immeasurable,” it also declared.

The SAA statement noted: “The conciliation process with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) will be reconvened shortly to mediate in the current deadlock between unions and management is ongoing.

“Our efforts are focused on finding solutions that recognise employees’ concerns, safeguard the business and return operations to normal without delay.”