Administrators at struggling South African Airways (SAA) have called creditors to a meeting on Friday after the government missed a deadline to make funding available for a restructuring plan. The administrators took control of state-owned SAA in December after almost a decade of financial losses and published a rescue plan in June following repeated delays and wrangling over its future. But the plan, which envisages scaling back SAA’s fleet and cutting jobs, needs at least 10b rand ($612m) in new funds to work, and the cash has not materialised despite assurances from the government. Of the more than 10b rand needed, around 2.8b is required for initial working capital including restart costs. Friday’s creditor meeting will be convened at 11:00 local time (0900 GMT) to discuss the funding issue and the proposed future of the company, the administrators said. The Department of Public Enterprises, the ministry responsible for SAA, said on Thursday that it was still trying to source the necessary funding and that it was assessing proposals from several potential strategic equity partners. <br/>
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German pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit has expressed scepticism about Lufthansa’s planned a new leisure subsidiary Ocean, and intends to oppose efforts by the airline to employ crews without collective labour agreements. Citing internal group communications, including job adverts, the union says Lufthansa plans to launch operations with three long-haul aircraft in the spring of 2021. Lufthansa has previously said that Ocean is being modelled on group carrier Swiss’s leisure subsidiary Edelweiss and will operate long- and short-haul tourist flights from the mainline’s Frankfurt and Munich hubs to “complement the portfolio of Lufthansa and Eurowings”. The union believes Lufthansa intends to recruit internal staff for the new unit and says: “So far, the group does not plan to employ staff on terms that apply to the [mainline].” Employees will effectively reapply for jobs to operate routes previously served by Lufthansa, on “significantly worse” conditions than at the mainline, the union suggests. Marcel Grols, the union’s head of collective bargaining policy, states that “a company like Lufthansa must plan seriously”, and calls on the airline to negotiate a collective union agreement for Ocean. Lufthansa confirms that on 9 September it started an internal recruitment initiative to employ 300 flight- and cabin crew for Ocean – “to offer Lufthansa Group employees a perspective in these difficult times”. Interested staff must apply to Ocean – a standalone company with its own AOC – but Lufthansa notes that the new entity’s name will not serve as a customer-facing brand. The group says it decided before the pandemic to “bundle” leisure operations to improve its position in that market. “Even before the crisis, we saw large growth potential in the tourism segment, and believe that demand for leisure flights will recover significantly faster than for business travel.”<br/>
The State Enterprises Workers' Relations Confederation on Thursday urged the government to secure financial assistance for the almost 2,600 workers laid off by Wingspan Services, a subsidiary of Thai Airways International (THAI). About 150 former Wingspan workers and Serc secretary-general Savit Kaewwan submitted a letter of complaint to PM Prayut Chan-o-cha at Government House through Suporn Atthawong, vice minister to the PM's Office. The letter stated that Wingspan had sacked 2,598 employees, effective on Sept 1, because THAI flights have remained suspended since the end of March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The airline has suffered staggering losses, which have had a direct knock-on effect on Wingspan, which provides personnel recruitment services for the national carrier.<br/>