FlySafair confirms cancellation of 26 flights and apologises 'deeply' to affected passengers
Image: Jonisayi Maromo/IOL
Domestic airline FlySafair says its hands are tied, after the company received last-minute updates from certain pilots informing the carrier that they would not make it to work on Monday morning, forcing the cancellation of at least 26 flights.
In an interview with IOL at the OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, Kirby Gordon, Chief Marketing Officer for FlySafair, said the interruption of flights is regrettable and has left some passengers stranded.
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"What we are experiencing at the moment is that we have an industrial action on the part of our pilots, they have embarked on a stay-away strike which started today. They have deemed it to happen for two weeks.
"Unfortunately, we had a number of commitments from a number of pilots to be able to cover our schedule today. Late last night, we received information from several of them, that they would be unable to fulfil their duties. As a result, we have had to cancel 26 of 174 flights today. So there has been cancellations which we apologise very deeply to our customers who have been stranded. Unfortunately, our hands are tied in this regard, because of the industrial action that is going on," he said.
Long queues formed at the FlySafair counters on Monday morning as the airline grappled with a labour impasse that grounded some flights.
Image: Jonisayi Maromo/IOL
As an intervention, Gordon told IOL that Flysafair teams were assisting customers, and in some instances giving refunds.
"Our teams are here and available to assist as much as they possibly can. We have booked passengers on other flights in the future, and with public carriers, where we have that available. Where that is not an option, we are issuing immediate refunds as quickly as we can," said Gordon.
He said the negotiations with Solidarity are still ongoing.
"We continue to approach them (the negotiations) with good faith. At this stage, we are still quite far apart. Unfortunately, the unions' demands are very high. They have been speaking about a demand of a 10 percent increase in salaries," said Gordon.
"Actually, when one considers the full cost-to-company, that's more than 20.1 percent, which at the back of R1.8 to R2 million salary, which puts pilots within the top one percent of earners in this country, you can understand that it is just an untenable position.
Earlier, IOL reported about the long queues formed at the FlySafair counters on Monday morning as the airline grappled with industrial action.
In an interview with IOL at OR Tambo International Airport, Solidarity's deputy general-secretary, Helgard Cronje, said operations have been impacted by the labour impasse between FlySafair and the union, which Solidarity said has resulted in workers being blocked from working. Solidarity is the union representing FlySafair's pilots.
'Technically, it was not our industrial action, but it was the company's lockout. Be that as it may, what we have determined is that if our members are not there, there is definitely an operational impact on the company.
'Many flights were cancelled, many people were told to buy new tickets or to reschedule their flights. There is a definite operational impact if our members aren't at work. Technically, as I have said, it wasn't necessarily Solidarity's industrial action, because the company locked us out. They are locking us out at this stage.'
Cronje told IOL that on Thursday, Solidarity gave FlySafair notice for a one-day strike, basically to get them back to the negotiation table.
'The CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) immediately contacted us, and we responded to the CCMA and said we are willing to speak and go back to the negotiation table,' he said.
Solidarity's deputy general-secretary, Helgard Cronje speaking to IOL
Image: Jonisayi Maromo/IOL
'As of yesterday, we had not seen a response from Safair and I have not seen one this morning. In spite of the fact that we announced the strike, they did not respond. What they did is, on Friday, they gave a lockout notice of seven days, which means our members are not able to come and work, because they are not allowed to work by FlySafair.'
One student who opted not to be identified said he was scheduled to travel to Cape Town, but his flight has been cancelled. He has been put on standby for a flight on Tuesday.
'I have been told that there is no flight today and I must come tomorrow (Tuesday). I am not guaranteed a flight, they said I am on standby. I was told to return to the OR Tambo International Airport at 6am. This has been frustrating,' he said.
Business Report has recently reported that FlySafair is poised for significant flight disruptions in the next two weeks following the decision to lock out around 200 pilots for seven days on the back of industrial action starting on Monday.
This drastic move comes on the heels of an overwhelming 90% of the airline's pilots voting in favour of a strike over a wage dispute, igniting a standoff that could see the aviation landscape of South Africa affected for up to two weeks.
The turmoil began when Solidarity issued a notice of a one-day strike intended to bring the airline back to the negotiation table.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
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