■ SOUTH AFRICA: SATAWU calls off strike as deal is reached with SAA.

South African Airways (SA) has announced that a strike by South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) members at South African Airways Technical (SAAT), the maintenance subsidiary of the national carrier, has come to an end. 

■ SOUTH AFRICA: SAA Technical brokers deal with AUSA, breaks off talks with SATAWU over alleged incidents of violence.

South African Airways Technical (SAAT), the maintenance subsidiary of the national carrier, South African Airways (SAA), has resolved part of an ongoing strike with the signing of a wage deal with the Aviation Union of Southern Africa (AUSA), said to represent "a large portion of engineers and technical staff at SAAT", on Wednesday August 28, 2013. However, negotiations with the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) have now been called off following what SAA called "striking SATAWU members’ disregard of the picketing rules and intensified unruly behaviour."

■ SOUTH AFRICA: SAA Technical staff affiliated with SATAWU go on strike; some flights to be affected.

Employees affiliated with the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) at South African Airways' (SA) MRO unit, SAA Technical, have gone on strike over a requested 12% wage increase. According to a statement by the union, the strike will go on until their demands are met.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: Gigaba seeks greater cooperation between Denel Aviation, SAA Technical & SAExpress Technical.

South African Minister of Public Enterprises, Malusi Gigaba, says he has directed the board of state-owned aerospace and defence technology conglomerate, Denel, to develop a long term Africa-centric growth strategy which will involve Denel Aviation collaborating with fellow parastatals, SAA Technical and SA Express Technical. The move falls in line with the Ministry's goal of developing Denel into a global player in the defence industry and to become a preferred supplier and prime contractor for the Department of Defence’s large programmes as well as for the African Continent.

► SOUTH AFRICA: Eleven BA-Comair B737s suffer mass grounding over expired parts.

The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) on Friday, August 2, reportedly grounded eleven of British Airways-Comair's aircraft after they were found to be flying with components whose life-cycle expired in August 2012.