Strike warning at South Africa’s biggest domestic airline

More than half of the pilots at South Africa’s largest airline, FlySafair, are preparing to go on strike after failing to reach an agreement on wages, labour union Solidarity said.

The majority of the 211 pilots represented by Solidarity rejected the low-cost carrier’s final offer of a 5.7% raise, Deputy General-Secretary Helgard Cronje said by phone.

The labour union’s members, who make up about two-thirds of FlySafair’s total pilots, are demanding 10.5% in the first year and inflation-linked increases in the subsequent two years, he said. 

The threat of a strike comes six months after FlySafair faced being grounded for breaching local ownership laws.

The Department of Transport then gave the airline — which accounts for about 60% of the domestic seat capacity in South Africa and carries on average 30,000 passengers per day — a year to comply or risk having its license revoked.

Solidarity and FlySafair will finalise rules on Thursday under the guidance of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, and the first strike could then start a few days later, Cronje said in an emailed statement.