South African Airways said Wednesday it was cancelling all its flights as thousands of workers vowed to press ahead with an indefinite strike the following day, after the troubled carrier announced a major retrenchment plan. Around 3,000 workers, including cabin crew, check-in, ticket sales, technical and ground staff, are expected to take part in the open-ended strike starting Friday, their unions said. The looming shutdown forced SAA to announce Wednesday that it "has cancelled nearly all its domestic, regional and international flights scheduled for Friday, Nov 15 and Saturday, Nov 16". Unions earlier Wednesday vowed their members would forge ahead with the strike, which the airline warned could collapse the embattled carrier. <br/>
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United Airlines has experienced a double-digit increase in operating costs on certain routes because of the continued grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft, the airline’s finance chief said. United uses alternative aircraft such as the Boeing 757-200 in place of 14 MAX planes that are currently grounded, CFO Gerry Laderman said Wednesday. United also is in conversations with Boeing about potential compensation, he said. United’s capacity-growth forecasts have been partially upended by the grounding of the jet, Laderman said. “We are not hitting that number, and there are routes that we cannot fly because of this. And Boeing is aware.” United expects to cancel about 75 flights a day in December, which would result in about 2,300 canceled flights for the month. <br/>
EVA Air posted a NT2.6b (US$85m) operating profit for Q3, down by 35.2% from last year. Revenue for the quarter ended Sept 30 declined by 3.9% to NT$45.5b, while costs and expenses related to operations were broadly steady, declining by 1% to NT42.9b. As a result, net profit nearly halved to NT$1.27b, compared to NT$2.64b last year. In the first 9 months of 2019, the airline's operating profit was down by 8.6% to NT$7.3b. Revenue declined marginally, by 0.8% to NT$134b, while operating costs and expenses were reduced by almost as much to NT$117b. Net profit fell by 46.3% to NT$3.21b, compared to NT$5.98b last year. <br/>
Turkish Airlines reported a 2019 Q3 net income of US$655m, down 8.3% from $714m in the year-ago period. Operating profit for the quarter dropped 28.5% year-over-year to $641m. No management statement was available, but the carrier primarily attributed the Q3 results to decreasing domestic demand, the Boeing 737 MAX fleet grounding, currency exchange and limited revenue growth. Sept 6 the carrier lowered its revenue guidance for 2019 in the face of falling demand and other factors that have hampered operations. The carrier said revenue was slightly up 1.8% for the quarter to $4b from $3.9b YOY. Q3 EBITDAR stood at $1.3b, down 13.4% YOY; the Q3 EBITDAR margin was down 5.7 points to 32.4%. Fuel costs for the quarter rose 0.2% to $1.06b. <br/>