Airbus's A320 family appears to have overtaken the Boeing 737 in terms of total orders, in the wake of the 737 Max crisis and strong single-aisle activity from the European airframer. Total A320-family orders by the end of October this year had reached 15,193 after Airbus secured firm agreements for almost 400 of the twinjets last month – including 300 from IndiGo. Boeing's customer data for the 737 shows total orders of 15,136 to the end of October. These figures include airframes for the US military. Airbus's latest backlog revision indicates that Taiwanese carrier China Airlines' order for 11 Airbus A321neos, sealed on 15 October, edged the manufacturer ahead of its rival. At the close of last year the Boeing 737 had been more than 400 orders in front of the A320 family. But the grounding of the 737 Max in March 2019 reduced the order flow for the family to a trickle, and Boeing recorded agreements for just 36 737s over the first 10 months of this year. Airbus still remains nearly 1,500 aircraft behind Boeing in terms of deliveries, however, with 9,086 A320-family jets handed over against 10,563 737s of all variants. Boeing took its first orders for the 737 in 1965 and delivered the initial aircraft to Lufthansa two years later. Airbus delivered its first A320, to Air France, in 1988.

Source: FlightGlobal

South African Airways' acting chief has warned that continued strikes will deepen the airline's financial crisis, after flights were disrupted by industrial action. Zuks Ramasia says the carrier's financial position is already "precarious" and that strikes will have "dire ramifications" that will "without doubt place SAA's future in jeopardy". While the action by cabin crew union SACCA and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa is already problematic, Ramasia is concerned about the possibility of the strike broadening to include transport unions SATUWU and NTM. She says such an escalation, into a "full-on aviation strike", could bring all airport operations to a standstill and cause "huge damage" to South Africa's economy. The flag-carrier has managed to reinstate flights to a number of international destinations, having decided that it has sufficient numbers of personnel for the operations, and has been trying to use capacity on Mango Airlines and Airlink to maintain services on other routes. Evidence that relations between SAA and the unions is deteriorating has emerged with Ramasia accusing the unions of spreading untruthful allegations about the safety of the airline, and threatening legal action. "SAA is mindful of its obligations to comply with all regulations and continue to ensure safe and secure operations," she says. "SAA will therefore maintain the required levels of personnel, including oversight post holders and necessary compliance training during this strike period." Ramasia points out that SAA's pilots are not on strike and that it is using trained cabin crew, who meet regulatory requirements, on its services. The industrial action also appears to be causing divisions within staff ranks. Ramasia warns that the airline's management will not tolerate intimidation against personnel who opt not to strike. "We will always protect our employees’ right to decide for themselves and serve our customers," she says, adding that any employees engaging in misconduct or criminal behaviour may be liable for arrest or prosecution. "Striking is a personal choice. No one should be pressured by a union or striker to participate in the strike." The SACCA and NUMSA unions have demanded an 8% salary increase, but the carrier says it cannot afford any rise in wages. SAA is, however, offering a 5.9% rise from March 2020 and to provide back-pay around this date if it has received the necessary funds. The airline says it is restoring flights from Johannesburg to Sao Paulo, New York, London, Frankfurt, Munich and Washington DC on 17 November, and to Perth and Hong Kong on 18 November. "We hope all our customers understand that the cancellations were beyond our control," says SAA chief commercial officer Philip Saunders. "We pledged to rebook all passengers caught up in the flight cancellations."

Source: FlightGlobal

After a meeting on Thursday afternoon, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the South African Cabin Crew Association rejected the latest offer by South African Airways. This means that, for now, the strike called by the two unions and their 3 000 members at SAA and SAA Technical will go ahead on Friday morning at 4am. SAA on Thursday evening asked passengers who had been booked to travel on all its domestic, regional and international flights on Friday and Saturday not to turn up at airports, but instead to follow the airline's travel policy to exercise their rights following the cancellation of flights because of industrial action. Only flights operated by South African Airways will be affected, the airline said earlier in the day. All flights operated on partner airlines, including SA Express, Mango, SA Airlink and all codeshare partners, including flights operated by its Star Alliance partner airlines, will not be affected. In a joint statement the two unions said the strike would be indefinite. The unions had announced on Wednesday afternoon that, if demands were not met, they would launch the "mother of all strikes". According to the unions, SAA is offering a 5.9% wage increase to be paid in March 2020, with back pay to be paid in instalments beginning April 1, 2020. They have rejected the offer in favour of a 8% wage increase across the board to be paid on December 13, 2019, and 50% of the back pay to be paid with the increase on the same day. The unions want the remainder of the back pay to be paid on January 27, 2020. NUMSA and SACCA also want immediate insourcing of certain services and the cancelling of outsourcing contracts which the unions claim are "bleeding SAA dry". "Our demands are not just for a wage increase. In 2015 we were told SAA is in a crisis and workers had to be retrenched. Those workers were retrenched, but nothing was done about the airline's procurement space, which affects (its finances). If the management of this airline is genuine, they will deal with the insourcing issue immediately," NUMSA and SACCA said at a briefing on Thursday afternoon. According to the two unions, SAA is willing to lose R50m a day by cancelling flights on Friday and Saturday, when in the view of the unions, that R100m is what it would cost the airline to comply with the unions' wage demand over a year period.

Source: Fin24