South African Airways (SAA) flights to the United States will operate via Ilha do Sal in Cape Verde due to a strike action at the Dakar airport in Senegal, SAA said on Thursday.
Spokesperson Jacqui O’Sullivan said workers at the airport, who were not SAA employees, were on strike for various benefit payments.
The strike will begin on Friday at 8pm and was expected to go on until Tuesday.
”The SA204 out of New York today [Thursday] will operate via Ilha do Sal and SA203 from Johannesburg will operate to Dakar with a technical stop in Ilha do Sal,” O’Sullivan said.
The SA203 to New York, SA207 to Washington and SA204 from New York will be affected by the re-routing but the changes will not create delays for passengers connecting within the US.
”SAA will try and contact all passengers scheduled to fly to or from Dakar during the next five days to inform them of the strike action,” she said.
Contingency plans had been scheduled for the duration of the planned strike. Should the matter be resolved before Tuesday, SAA would work to ensure that normal operations resumed as quickly as possible.
”Affected passengers will be contacted by the airline,” O’Sullivan said. — Sapa