South African Airways (SAA) has received R5-billion from the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) to cover severance packages for laid-off staff according to Reuters.
SAA entered business rescue in December 2019 after years of financial loss, which were amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The business rescue plan includes decreasing the airline’s staff by two-thirds, and the business rescue practitioners say the grant will allow them to pay cabin crew and ground staff that accepted voluntary severance packages in August 2020.
A whopping 3,000 SAA employees have accepted severance packages from the embattled airline. Roughly 1,300 staff members are still in negotiations.
In December of 2020, SAA locked out all its pilots affiliated with the South African Airways Pilots’ Association (Saapa). The pilots were barred from accessing SAA’s premises after Saapa refused to sign a deal offered by the airline’s business rescue partners. The DPE called the pilots’ salaries a ‘financial burden’ and ‘unconstitutional’.
Also read:
SAA pilots’ salaries unconstitutional, says government
Picture: Getaway gallery
