The management of SAA and the two pilots’ unions threatening to go on strike from Thursday were in “active negotiations” on Wednesday with no indication of whether passengers would find themselves stranded for less than 24 hours.
“We aim to avoid any disruptions to our services and will keep the public updated on any developments,” SAA spokesperson Vimla Maistry said.
The proposed strike comes just before schools countrywide officially close on Wednesday, with large numbers of South Africans having booked flights for the December holidays.
SAA’s pilots are represented by two unions — the SAA Pilots Association (SAAPA) and the National Transport Movement, with SAAPA leading the negotiation process.
The pilots initially wanted a 30% salary increase, which they have since reduced to 15.7% (plus associated benefits). SAA offered increases of 8.46% backdated to April 2024.
According to sources, the pilots from both unions had a strike ballot which indicated that almost 94% of them were in favour of strike action.
SAA said in a statement on Wednesday that its final wage offer made in September 2024 was significantly higher than salaries in SA. According to SAA, the offer was also benchmarked against international pilot salary adjustments.
However, according to aviation experts, SAA pilot salaries compare poorly with bigger airlines.
While SAA is one of the best-paying airlines in Africa, experienced pilots and captains in particular can earn more than double elsewhere.
The international commercial airline industry is experiencing a huge shortage of pilots so even pilots with relatively low flying hours on certain aircraft types are in high demand, Guy Leitch, an aviation expert told Business Day.
At least three big airlines abroad are having recruitment drives in SA during December. Apart from doubling the local pilots’ salaries, those airlines also offer handsome bonuses on joining.
“SAA’s management is facing a very difficult dilemma between what it can afford in increases and losing its experienced pilots without which it also cannot continue with its expansion drive,” Leitch said.
As is, SAA has recently wet-leased four Boeing 737s from Turkish airline SunExpress to deal with the summer traffic. While those jets come with their own pilots, they still use SAA cabin crews.
The four jets are mostly used on domestic routes, but should the pilots go on strike it leaves SAA with a dilemma to service its regional and international routes.
Should the cabin crews decide to join the proposed strike, even the Turkish aircraft would not be able to fly, Leitch said.
When SAA was revived after going into business rescue in 2021 the pilots’ salaries and leave compared with the “old” SAA were cut by about 50%, but at the same time the workload was increased. The airline still offers medical aid as part of its salary package, whereas pilots flying for other local airlines have to buy their own medical aid.
According to one insider, salaries of the local commercial airlines are “about as good as you will get” in SA.
In the former SAA, the higher salaries ensured better retention of senior pilots who did not necessarily want to leave the country for greener pastures.
Ironically, SAAPA in the previous dispensation was criticised for being lavish with its payment proposals. But there was a method in the madness to retain staff as was being proved all over again, Leitch said.
“SAA is also struggling with the same balancing act as Air Traffic and Navigation Services is facing where pilots are working so hard for their earnings that they just give up and resign. SAA has been struggling to retain young black pilots they appointed after 2021 to turn around the representation in the ‘new’ SAA.
“And it did produce a number of representative captains — only to lose them to the international market,” he said.
The other local airlines also do not have much spare capacity to make up for the flights SAA might lose should the strike go ahead.
SAA recently declared a net profit of R252m for 2022/23 for the first time since the airline went in the red a decade ago. This stands in stark contrast to the combined R23.5bn debt accumulated for the previous four years. However, the airline has still not published its financials, which were due in April.
SAAPA has not issued any statements regarding the looming strike and left it to SAA to break the news on Wednesday morning.
“From what I understand, the unions’ position in the negotiation process is to be reactionary to what SAA offers. The ball is therefore very much in the airline management’s hands,” one insider told Business Day.
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