South African Airways (SAA) will reinstate international flights to seven international destinations from Sunday night – November 17 – and has advised passengers to report to their departure airport as normal when in possession of a rebooked itinerary.
“On behalf of South African Airways, I wish to apologize to all our passengers for the inconvenience and frustration caused by the cancellation of flights as a result of ongoing industrial action by the South African Cabin Crew Association and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa. Our passengers deserve a smooth and convenient service when they fly with South African Airways,” said SAA Chief Commercial Officer, Philip Saunders.
SAA took a decision to reinstate international service on its route network after assessment of its personnel numbers who are available and willing to operate the flights. Whilst some employees are on strike and have elected to do so in exercising their rights, the airline has a duty to render services to its customers where it has employees who have elected to report for work. All employees have rights protected in law on both sides of the divide.
“We hope all our customers understand that the cancellations were beyond our control. We pledged to rebook all passengers caught up in the flight cancellations. We are working hard towards this goal and we are pleased to resume flights to all our international destinations,” Saunders said.
The seven destinations are New York, Sao Paulo, London, Frankfurt, Munich and Washington via Accra. Flights will depart from OR Tambo International Airport.
Customers are requested not to travel to their departure airport unless in possession of a rebooked itinerary.
SAA has been working with its sister airline, Mango, to re-accommodate as many customers as possible travelling on domestic services.
Depending on availability, customers traveling to regional destinations are being re-accommodated on Airlink, a partner airline of SAA, and other airlines where possible.
Customers seeking a refund or wishing to rebook their travel on a future SAA service have until 30 November 2019 to finalise their arrangements.
Tags: South African Airways
