South African Airways acting chair Thandeka Mgoduso has confirmed that the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the South African Cabin Crew Association issued the national carrier with a strike notice on Wednesday morning. Mgoduso was appearing before parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA). SAA announced on Monday that it is embarking on a restructuring process which may affect 944 jobs - almost a fifth of its employees. In response, Numsa and SACCA warned that their members are preparing for "the mother of all strikes at SAA". On Wednesday, SAA briefed SCOPA on the reasons why it failed to submit its 2018-19 annual report and financial statements, as required by the Public Finance Management Act. The delegation told SCOPA that they were prevented from tabling the report as there are reservations whether the airline can be presented as a going concern. Over the past 13 years, the flag carrier has incurred over R28bn in cumulative losses. The committee was not satisfied with their explanation, but gave the utility an opportunity to explain the financial situation and plans to table their annual report on November 20th. SAA board member Martin Kingston told SCOPA that the only thing that may have changed by November 27th is a potential strike, which would lead to a further deterioration of the carrier's financial situation. Deon Fredericks, interim chief financial officer (CFO) of SAA, told a media briefing on Tuesday that the strike will endanger the existence of SAA and could destroy every job at the state-owned airline. Fredericks said labour currently represents 24% of SAA's total cost. Fin24 understands that SAA is currently under pressure to secure R2bn in working capital, which it needs before the end of November. Government does not want to extend further support. Finance minister Tito Mboweni announced last month that Treasury won't extend additional bailouts to state-owned enterprises - any further financing will be in the form of loans, that will have to be repaid, with interest.

Source: Fin24

Wizz Air chief Jozsef Varadi has scorned the pledges of airlines which are committing to becoming carbon-neutral in several decades' time. Varadi spoke during a 13 November half-year briefing at which it put its carbon dioxide emissions figure at 57g per revenue passenger-kilometre, claiming this to be some 40% lower than IAG or Lufthansa. "It's great when an airline like British Airways, KLM, or Air France says that in 2050 – we're all going to be dead by that time – we're going to be carbon neutral," he said. "These are the worst-performing airlines." He insists that, regardless of their declarations, they "don’t have the financial resources to sufficiently invest" in the technology required to "change the game". "I think it's a bit of a joke, what they're saying," says Varadi, pointing out that the larger carrier groups offer business class, lower-density seating, and flight connections. "Inherently their business model is environmentally-polluting." He argues that Wizz's environmental impact is substantially smaller, on a per-passenger basis. "If you have 'flight-shaming', maybe you should have 'business-class shaming' and 'connecting-flight shaming' as well," he says. "Maybe we need to think about that."

Source: FlightGlobal

Preliminary indications suggest the Envoy Air Embraer ERJ-145 which suffered a runway excursion at Chicago O'Hare had landed with a tailwind in gusting conditions. Braking action before the touchdown on runway 10L was "medium to poor" up to the N3 taxiway – just over halfway along the runway – according to tower controller transmissions to the crew. The ERJ-145, arriving from Greensboro on 11 November, had already executed a go-around about 25min earlier. A SkyWest Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 immediately preceding had similarly gone around, telling the controller that it was due to braking action, and diverted to Green Bay. Braking action at that point was given as 'medium'. But the ERJ-145 crew opted to make a second approach to runway 10L. The tower controller gave the runway visual range as 4,000ft according to communications archived by LiveATC. Meteorological data indicates freezing conditions, light snow, and winds from about 350° at 17kt, gusting to 25kt, which would have presented a tailwind component. The ERJ-145 slid off the runway, coming to rest with its right wing in contact with the snow. Chicago tower declared the runway closed, informing personnel that they "had an aircraft go off the runway". American Airlines, on whose behalf flight AA4125 was operating, states there were 38 passengers and three crew on board.

Source: FlightGlobal