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Johannesburg - Low-cost airline Mango confirmed on Friday that it has been issued with a strike notice by labour union Solidarity, adding that contingency measures are already in place.
Fin24 reported on Friday morning that pilots belonging to Solidarity threatened to strike after salary negotiations with the state-owned carrier deadlocked.
The dispute derives from 2011 when Mango undertook to bring its pilots' remuneration in line with that of their peers at other low-cost airlines (LCC) by 2014.
"The union proffers that its application follows a deadlock in negotiations, despite Mango fully complying with the existing salary agreements with the pilot body, reached in 2011 and 2012," airline spokesperson Hein Kaizer said in a statement.
"Mango salaries are already comparable to those of carriers such as SA Airlink, SA Express and pending new LCC entrants into the South African market," he said.
Kaizer said Mango had and would continue to honour its side of the salary agreements.
"We expected our union-led pilot body to do the same. It is unfortunate that talks have broken down to the current state of affairs," he said.
"While Mango has grown over the past 18 months, it has done so in a contracting market; and while it has operated profitably during the past fiscal year, erosion of success is easily monetised by blue-sky wage demands."
The airline already shared good fortune with its employees via a variable pay system that rewards staff during profitable periods, he said. The pilot body elected to resign from this scheme in 2012, he said.
"Should industrial action take place, Mango has contingency plans ready to manage any possible disruption to our service."
Kaizer said low-cost airline salaries were universally graded differently to full service carriers.
Salaries logically trailed that of SA Airways and Comair, which both carried international, full service, premium brands.
Mango employed 101 pilots at four airports in Johannesburg, Lanseria, Cape Town, and Durban. Around 90% of Mango pilots were members of Solidarity, Kaizer said.
