South African Airways start strike that could cripple airline

South African Airways (SAA) workers went on strike on Friday to demand higher wages and protest planned job cuts, forcing the struggling state-owned carrier to cancel all flights.

SAA threatens its survival as the company has not turned a profit since 2011 and is reliant on state bailouts, says the walkout by unions representing more than half of its workforce cost it 50 million rands ($3.36m) a day.

The unions have rejected SAA's wage offer on Thursday, and are also striking over the carrier's plans to cut more than 900 jobs in a bid to stem financial losses.

The Chief Financial officer, Deon Fredericks, told radio station 702 that the strike jeopardised ongoing negotiations with lenders on funding SAA needs to stay afloat.

SAA's woes mark a dramatic fall from grace over the past decade, which has seen the flag carrier lose its place as Africa's biggest airline and become a source of frustration for taxpayers who have forked out more than 30 billion rands (two billion dollars) since 2012 to keep it in the air.

Now, without a permanent CEO, the airline faces mammoth turnaround requirements, including cost-cutting decisions that have been put off for years in a country where job cuts are a hugely sensitive issue.