SAA pilots’ strike suspended
The crippling pilots’ strike at South African Airways has been suspended following successful negotiations.
This comes after the national carrier and the South African Airways Pilots Association (SAAPA) reached an agreement in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Flights were adversely affected when Pilots affiliated with the association began their picket over salary demands outside the national carrier's offices in Kempton Park on Thursday.
SAA said it expected to return to a 100% flight schedule on Sunday with more than 100 pilots returning to their posts by midday on Saturday.
READ: SAA reacts to angry backlash amid pilots’ strike
At the start of wage negations in May, the SAA Pilots Association initially asked for a 30% salary increase, which later dropped to 15%.
The employer offered 8.4%, backdated to 1 April 2024. This was rejected by workers.
On Saturday, SAA said it upped its offer by 1%, resulting in a total salary increase of 9.4% breaking the deadlock.
Further negotiations are expected to continue over the next eight weeks.
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