SAA grounds its domestic, international flights until Friday
The South African Airways (SAA) has cancelled 12 of its flights operating on three routes.
They include a total of six inbound and outbound domestic flights between Durban and Johannesburg.
Several flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town have also been cancelled, while two international flights on the Johannesburg to Munich route are affected.
SAA spokesperson, Tlali Tlali says the cancellations began on Monday and will be in effect until Friday.
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"The reasons for this flight changes are mainly due to temporarily surplus capacity caused by the introduction of our new Airbus A359 jet as well as the low demand during this off-peak travel season."
"SAA has communicated the changes to all its customers and will continue update the market about any other changes that may occur," he said.
In a statement, the carrier says it's working closely with its sister airline, Mango, to re-accommodate passengers on alternative services operated by both airlines to minimise disruption.
"SAA is working closely with its sister airline, Mango, to re-accommodate passengers on alternative services operated by both airlines to minimise disruption, and thereby ensure passengers reach their destination as quickly as possible."
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The cash-strapped SAA went into voluntary business rescue last month. It's currently waiting on Treasury to make available R2 billion it pledged to fund the business rescue process.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) says it's concerning that government can't come up with the funds.
OUTA spokesperson, Wayne Duvenhage said: "The real problem is that the airline keeps reducing its routes and its flights, but it's not reducing its cost such is headcounts, the headcounts stay static at 10,000 or so."
"If you take out a number of flights, you've got to remove the head count and the other operating costs that come with it. If the airline needs R2 billion, and it doesn't get it, how does it influence its operations? It will do so because, you know, there's salaries, there's fuel to pay for and landing fees and so forth," he said.
