South African Airways (SAA) acting chief executive Zuks Ramasia on Tuesday announced that all of the airline’s international flights and a limited number of regional ones have taken to the sky despite the current strike that has affected the state-owned company.
According to Ramasia, this development had been possible because a good number of flight attendants and ground crew had reported back to work.
Some 3,000 SAA workers downed their tools last Friday, demanding a pay rise of 8% after the airline offered them 5.9 percent starting in March 2020.
SAA chief finance officer Deon Fredericks said the cash-strapped firm was simply not in a position to afford the eight percent wage increase demanded by the workers’ unions.
“We’ve indicated to the unions that currently we can’t afford it. But if we want to structure something in the later years, we are very open to do that,” Fredericks said.
Ramasia said negotiations with unions will continue to end the two sides’ differences.
NM/jn/APA