Cape Town - SAA lost altogether R31 781 701 when members of the SA Cabin Crew Association (Sacca) went on strike on April 26, said Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba.
He was responding to a parliamentary question posed by Malcolm Figg from the Democratic Alliance (DA). The Finance Minister did not elaborate further on the matter.
On April 25 SAA warned customers and stakeholders that the airline has been served with a notice of intention to embark on an industrial action by one of the labour unions representing its cabin crew members, which disrupted its operations schedule.
READ: SAA gets final court order against cabin crew strike
On May 3, the Labour Court granted SAA a final order against Sacca and its members. This was after the court had granted an interim order in favour of the airline on April 26.
The order interdicted Sacca and its members from embarking on industrial action and declare the industrial action an unprotected strike.
SAA losses less than projected
Meanwhile, the national carrier's net loss for the 2017/19 financial year is projected to be R853m - significantly less than had been initially projected, BusinessLive reported on Monday.
SAA said previously in a group income statement provided to Parliament's standing committee on finance that it would post a loss of R4.490bn, as a consequence of unexpected movements of the exchange rate that presented volatility to the company's financials.
READ: SAA's losses balloon to R4.5bn
SAA will appear before the standing committee on Finance on Wednesday May 17 to report on among other things its quarterly report.
During a parliamentary question-and-answer session last week, Gigaba acknowledged that the continuous losses at SAA and its balance sheet need to be addressed urgently, but stressed that National Treasury is paying attention to the national carrier's financials on a daily basis to bring it back to financial health and make it sustainable again.
READ: No decision yet on SAA equity partner - Gigaba
He added that National Treasury was reconsidering SAA's domestic, international and regional routes, including the cost of fuel and the procurement of services to cut costs.
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