South African Airways (SAA) has suspended all international and domestic flights until further notice as a strike by cabin and ground crew entered a second day, the company said on Saturday.
SAA said in a statement that it had managed to get a significant number of travellers to their destinations on other carriers, despite the cancellation of domestic flights.
It appealed to people planning to travel by SAA to postpone their travel plans and not to arrive at airports for check-in.
Satawu, one of the unions leading the industrial action, said it hoped to meet with SAA on Saturday for talks.
"We are hoping to have a meeting this afternoon... It is in the public interest for them to talk. We have to start today," Satawu general secretary Randall Howard told domestic news agency SAPA.
Scores of passengers have been left stranded as flights were cancelled, including to other African cities like Lagos in Nigeria and Nairobi in Kenya.
SAA cabin crew and ground staff went on strike from early on Friday after unions and management failed to reach agreement on wages at a final meeting on Thursday. The union is demanding an 8 percent annual wage increase while SAA is offering 5 percent.
The other union involved, the United Association of South Africa, said it was seeking a meeting with SAA management and added that the strike would continue until an agreement was reached.
The union's umbrella federation approached the national Ministry of Labour to facilitate a meeting with SAA management, but no talks were planned.
The national Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration said in a statement on Friday SAA management and the union had rejected intervention.
The Australian national rugby team -- in South Africa to play the Springboks in the final game of the Mandela Charity Cup on Saturday -- had to charter a special flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg for the game due to the extensive delays.
The unions argue that SAA can afford an 8 percent raise after it disclosed a ZAR966 million rand (USD$146.2 million) net profit for the 2004/05 financial year earlier this month. It suffered a ZAR8.6 billion (USD$1.3 billion) loss the previous period.
