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

Fog enshrouding East Midlands airport prevented tower controllers from realising that a parking stand was occupied by a Jet2 Boeing 737-300, before the jet was struck by a Ryanair 737-800 taxiing past it. The Ryanair aircraft, arriving from London Stansted on 30 April, had been cleared to follow the shortest path to stand S22. This meant passing behind the Jet2 aircraft on stand S24. This aircraft did not show up on the surface-movement radar display. Low-visibility procedures were in place at the time, with runway visual range down to just 300-325m, and the fog made the Jet2 aircraft "invisible" to air traffic controllers, says the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch. "Had visibility been better, [controllers] would have had an opportunity to visually acquire the obstruction and offer a different route [to the Ryanair crew]," it adds. Although the Jet2 aircraft was correctly parked, the short 737-300 was occupying a position normally intended for a 737-800 – a larger aircraft, which might have made the lack of clearance more obvious to the Ryanair crew. The inquiry says aeronautical information charts did not indicate that clearance could be compromised, and even though the Ryanair crew was aware of the narrow margin and kept to the taxiway guidance line, the 737-800's right winglet sliced into the Jet2 aircraft's horizontal stabiliser. "Commercial flight crew routinely operate on airfields where following established taxiway markings generates safe separation," says the inquiry. "Repeated achievement of safe outcomes through compliance builds confidence and trust that airfield markings are safe to follow."

Source: FlightGlobal