This is your captain speaking

South Africa’s aviation industry may be heading for a legal and labour reset that could significantly limit the right to strike for key aviation workers. The Essential Services Committee (ESC) has launched an investigation into whether certain aviation services should be designated as essential under the Labour Relations Act, a move that would force disputes into compulsory arbitration and prohibit industrial action by affected employees.

The notice, published on 23 January 2026, arrives during a period of heightened instability in the sector. “The notice, published on 23 January 2026, arrives at a particularly volatile moment for South Africa’s aviation industry, where labour disputes have already stalled negotiations and tested the limits of industrial action in a sector critical to the country’s economic infrastructure,” say Webber Wentzel partner Brett Abraham and knowledge lawyer Amy King.

“The investigation covers services rendered by pilots, cabin crew members, ground logistical staff (including but not limited to ground crew and cargo agents), and boarding gate agents of airlines.”

The scope of services under review is extensive. 

“The services under investigation include the operation of aircraft by pilots and on-board operational services rendered by cabin crew members, including on-board safety and security and emergency medical care; services rendered by boarding gate agents, including security at airports; logistical services rendered by ground staff that enable the time-sensitive and secure transportation of cargo, including medical supplies and human tissue; and the urgent or timeous transport of medical personnel to perform life-saving or life-extending medical procedures.”

The ESC must determine not whether aviation as an industry is essential, but whether specific services meet a constitutional threshold. 

“The investigation will determine which of these services meet the constitutional threshold for essential services designation, namely, services where interruption could endanger life, personal safety or health,” say Abraham and King “The focus will be on services with immediate public safety implications rather than imposing a blanket designation across the entire aviation industry.”

The inquiry unfolds against a backdrop of labour unrest that has already exposed fault lines in aviation labour relations. 

“In recent months, the industry has witnessed multiple industrial disputes involving both collective bargaining deadlocks and operational disruptions stemming from workforce and infrastructure challenges.” 

Wage negotiations have stalled, leading to strikes, lockouts and work stoppages, and raising unresolved employment law questions. 

The lawyers ask: “What constitutes fair compensation in a sector characterised by operational volatility and inflationary pressure? How should employers interpret their obligations regarding rest breaks and working conditions under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act when applied to the unique operational demands of aviation? What procedural requirements govern referrals to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) when disputes carry public interest implications?”

These pressures are compounded by global dynamics. Beyond the industrial relations dimension, the industry faces broader structural challenges at a global level, placing a focus on workforce planning and skills emigration as important mechanisms for avoiding cascading risks across interconnected operations.

The consequences of industrial action in aviation are immediate. 

“Industrial action in aviation creates immediate operational disruption with public safety and economic implications.” 

Employees performing safety-critical functions operate in an environment where “operational continuity, public safety and constitutional labour rights intersect”. This is the fault line the ESC must now address. 

“It is precisely this intersection that raises the question now before the Essential Services Committee: where industrial action in aviation may endanger life, personal safety or health, what constitutional and statutory framework should govern the balance between the right to strike and the imperative of public protection?

“The designation comes with profound legal consequences: employees working in essential services may not engage in strike action, and collective disputes must be referred to the CCMA for conciliation and arbitration rather than proceeding to industrial action.”

At the same time, constitutional jurisprudence places strict limits on how such designations may be applied. 

“The Constitutional Court has consistently emphasised that a restrictive interpretation of essential services must, if possible, be adopted to avoid impermissibly limiting the right to strike. The law requires that it is the service which is essential, not the industry or the operation within which the service falls.”

Even where services appear to meet the threshold, aviation’s internal complexity presents practical challenges. 

“The challenge will be to identify which employees perform these services and to ensure that the designation does not overreach into ordinary commercial operations. Pilots simultaneously perform safety-critical and revenue-generating functions. Cabin crew provide customer service while also serving as the first line of emergency response.” 

As a result, “this intermingling of essential and non-essential functions within individual roles requires careful analysis”.

If designation follows, the balance of power in collective bargaining will shift.

“Without the credible threat of industrial action, employees performing essential services lose their primary bargaining lever.”

The ESC will hear oral representations in Cape Town on 23 February, Port Elizabeth on 24 February, Durban on 2 March and Johannesburg on 4 March 2026. For airlines, unions and passengers alike, the outcome will extend well beyond the current cycle of disputes. The lawyers are clear about what is at stake: “The hearings scheduled for February and March 2026 will be critical in determining whether aviation services join the ranks of designated essential services in South Africa. The outcome will shape collective bargaining, industrial action, and labour relations in the sector for years to come.”