The empty check-in station of SAA at King Shaka International Airport. Picture: Tumi Pakkies/ Independent Newspapers
TOURISM officials in KZN are confident of a bumper holiday season even though SAA planes have been grounded by disgruntled pilots.
The pilots refused to take to the air from Thursday saying that they wanted salary increases, first asking for 30% more before revising it to 15.7%
However, Brett Tungay chairperson of the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa) East Coast said he was confident that the strike would not cause major disruptions. According to Tungay the province doesnt receive a lot of foreign travelers over the festive season.
“There could be on internal flights but if we look at it most of the domestic travel to KZN would only be from next weekend Friday. I presume by then that the strike would be resolved,” he said.
By late yesterday the union representing the pilots and SAA had still not reached an agreement as SAA only put 8.46% on the table.
The pilots also said that the initial request for a 30% increase was to make up for the 50% salary cuts that took place pre-Covid-19.
Meanwhile the DA has called for all parties involved to urgently resolve the wage dispute, so that it does not affect tourism throughout the country over the holiday period.
The DA’s tourism spokesperson Haseena Ismail wafrned that said the disruption could have far-reaching consequences for the economy and the tourism industry as a whole.
“The economic impact of these flight interruptions goes beyond job creation too. For every 100 incoming tourists, R2.1 million is brought into South Africa in tourist spend. And for every 100 incoming tourists R500,000.00 is added to GDP. These statistics have been proved by the Western Cape Government,” explained Ismail.
She said South Africa risks losing tens of millions of rands of tourist spend per day if the expected aircraft and thousands of incoming tourists do not arrive.
In a statement SAA said that passengers whose flights were canceled would be offered alternative travel options or a full refund.
SAA’s CEO Professor John Lamola said they were committed to ensuring that all passengers reached their destinations despite the challenges posed by a limited schedule and the necessary re-accommodation on other airlines.
Lamola reassured customers and the aviation fraternity that not all SAA pilots were on strike.
“Despite some alterations and restrictions to the SAA schedule and services during this period, SAA remains operational and continues to serve its passengers,” he said.
He said the details of limited flight schedule and re-accommodation plans have been communicated to travel agents and passengers who booked directly with SAA through the call center, General Sales Agency, City and Airport Ticketing Offices, flysaa.com, and SAA mobile applications.
When the Independent on Saturday went to King Shaka International Airport yesterday, SAA’s check-in station was deserted and some staff members said passengers would be unable to book or buy new tickets to travel. Routes that have been disrupted are Johannesburg to Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Mauritius, and Windhoek.