Air Namibia cancels dozens of flights

The national airline has cancelled 33 more flights from today until next Monday as negotiations over salary increments continue to stall.

Theo Namases, the managing director of Air Namibia, yesterday confirmed that they were still negotiating with the the Namibian Airline Pilots Association (Napa). Both parties are optimistic that an agreement will be reached this week.

Management had offered a 5% salary increase across the board, backdated to April 1 2012, but the pilots rejected it. The national airline said it did not have the money to increase the offer.

In the meantime, the financially troubled airline is using contract pilots and those workers who opted not to strike.

Airline spokesman Paulus Nakawa said earlier this week that the strike was costing the airline N$5 million a day.

Napa president Christian Schneider said there were about 50 to 55 pilots on strike. He claimed that Air Namibia pilots were receiving nearly 30% less than those at other airlines.