Bryan Air

DESCRIPTION:
SAA has staggered its October salaries for the second month running, and The Citizen reports that Treasury has given the airline until February to find a buyer. Two former airline pilots who have both had the message that pay will be late ask the question out loud: should South Africa still own an airline?
Bryan Roseveare and Ryan Parrock are back together after a few weeks apart. In this one they cover the SAA pay crisis, the flydubai 1073 crew collecting their medals, the state of OR Tambo as a new chief executive arrives, and whether your child should become a pilot in South Africa right now.
The SAA story first. TimesLIVE reported an internal memo that staggers October pay by staff group, with executives paid last, and September was staggered too. Treasury's R1 billion guarantee is a promise to a lender, not cash paid to the airline, and The Citizen reports it comes with conditions: name the assets for sale within 90 days, deliver a plan with independent valuations by 3 December, report every quarter on which routes make money, and find a buyer by February. Bryan and Ryan ask who would take on SAA's debt in a market where FlySafair, Airlink, Lift and CemAir are growing, and what a late payday does to a crew who still have to go to work and fly you safely.
Then the flydubai 1073 crew, decorated in Dubai on Monday with the First Class Order of Zayed II for landing the aircraft after the 30 September cockpit incident. Nova News reports that one of the relief pilots who landed it in Tabuk is from Kimberley. Ryan and Bryan talk about what this does to simulator training, cockpit door rules, the crash axe, and the psychometric tests every pilot sits before a job.
OR Tambo gets a new chief executive on Sunday. ACSA made a R1.2 billion profit last year, and Bryan, just back from Europe, describes the immigration queue and the state of the terminal that greeted him. He felt ashamed, and he says so.
And the question parents ask Bryan more than any other: should my child become a pilot? Ryan's honest answer, the medical to do before you spend a cent on training, how long it took one young first officer to reach the airline, and the pilots who told Bryan they would not do it again.
IN THIS EPISODE
SAA staggers October salaries for a second month, and Parliament wants answers by Friday
What the R1 billion Treasury guarantee is, and the conditions The Citizen reports come with it
Who would buy SAA in a market where FlySafair, Airlink, Lift and CemAir are growing
Crew stress when the pay message lands, and why the industry is behind the SAA crews
The flydubai 1073 crew collect their medals, with a South African reportedly among them
Cockpit doors, crash axes and pilot psychometric testing after flydubai 1073
OR Tambo gets a new chief executive, and Bryan's own walk through international arrivals
Where ACSA's R1.2 billion profit went
Should your child become a pilot in South Africa right now
Do the aviation medical first, then choose your training
Paying back the training loan, and ten years from licence to airline
Lifestyle, burnout, luck and networking without LinkedIn
Sports banter, the Superbrew standings, and an AI agent that lives inside WhatsApp
I'm Bryan Roseveare. I was an airline captain. I still go to work on the flight deck. It's just a full flight simulator now, and the pilots I train are the ones who fly you around.
SOURCES
TimesLIVE, 22 October 2026: SAA salaries delayed again as cash flow crunch threatens national carrier
→ https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-10-22-saa-salaries-delayed-again-as-cash-flow-crunch-threatens-national-carrier/
Sunday Times, 24 October 2026: SAA's finances under fire as cash squeeze tightens
→ https://www.sundaytimes.timeslive.co.za/news/2026-10-24-saas-finances-under-fire-as-cash-squeeze-tightens/
The Citizen, 22 October 2026: SAA receives R1bn guarantee, further bailouts not ruled out
→ https://www.citizen.co.za/business/saa-receives-r1bn-guarantee-further-bailouts-not-ruled-out/
The Citizen, 29 October 2026: SAA given until February to find buyer
→ https://www.citizen.co.za/news/saa-given-until-february-to-find-buyer/
Gulf News, 27 October 2026: UAE President honours flydubai crew with First Class Order of Zayed II
→ https://gulfnews.com/uae/uae-president-awards-zayed-medal-to-flydubai-crew-for-bravery-1.500726129
Nova News, 28 October 2026: Northern Cape-born pilot among those receiving UAE medals (single source at time of writing)
→ https://novanews.co.za/watch-northern-cape-born-pilot-among-those-receiving-uae-medals-for-foiling-mid-air-terror-attack/
EWN, 9 September 2026: ACSA takes flight with bumper earnings as passenger numbers grow
→ https://www.ewn.co.za/acsa-takes-flight-with-bumper-earnings-as-passenger-numbers-grow/
Engineering News, 25 September 2026: ACSA asks former CFO Mthethwa to return and steer
→ https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/acsa-asks-former-cfo-mthethwa-to-return-and-steer-2026-09-25
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Patreon is what keeps this channel producing. It helps massively, and it is the best way to support what I do.
Support on Patreon
→ https://www.patreon.com/bryanair
Every episode, the full back catalogue and everything we talk about on the show lives in one place.
Bryan Air
→ https://bryanairpodcast.com/
THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SUPPORTERS
A warm welcome to our newest supporter, Ian Mark Gondwe.
And thank you to the people who have been carrying the show, some of them for years:
Dale Williams
Duncan Gillespie
Franziska
Jaco
Mike Mason
Iain Findlay
Caroline Koll
ACE
Catharine
Alan Macaulay
Craig Wood
Imre Kurucz
Kelvin Charman
Gabedi Mosupukwa

South African Airways has told its staff that October salaries will be late for the second month in a row, Parliament wants an answer from the Transport Minister by Friday 30 October, and Treasury has disclosed a R1 billion guarantee for the airline's working capital. A normal business that runs short of cash tightens its belt. An airline that runs short of cash usually stops flying.
In this short solo episode I explain why that is. Almost everything an airline spends is paid before the passenger boards, to companies that do not extend credit for long: fuel suppliers, the airport company, air traffic control, aircraft lessors, maintenance providers, insurers and the simulator training every pilot must do on a fixed cycle. When word gets out that an airline is short of cash, those suppliers start asking for the money up front, so the airline needs more cash at exactly the moment it has less.
Then I go through the record. Skywise, Mango, Velvet Sky, 1time, Comair and Nationwide all stopped flying when the money ran out, and not one of them was grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority for being broke. It was the airport company, the fuel supplier or the airline's own board. That is what a working capital guarantee is for: it keeps an airline on the right side of the people it pays every day.
IN THIS EPISODE
Why this week matters if you hold an SAA ticket
October salaries staggered for a second month, and what SAA says about it
The R1 billion Treasury guarantee, and why a guarantee is not cash
What happens when suppliers start asking for payment up front
The crews waiting for the bank SMS
Why an airline cannot tighten its belt the way an ordinary business can
Fuel, airport fees, air traffic charges, leases, maintenance, insurance and training
Who actually grounded six South African airlines, and why it was never the regulator for being broke
Stress at home as a safety matter
FlySafair, Airlink, the Heathrow slot money and the missing annual report
Friday's deadline for the minister, and the SAA hearing after the 4 November election
A word to the SAA crews
I'm Bryan Roseveare. I was an airline captain. I still go to work on the flight deck. It's just a full flight simulator now, and the pilots I train are the ones who fly you around.
PILOT MENTAL HEALTH VIDEO
The video I mention on air → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siJbLyZXZlM
SOURCES
R1 billion guarantee confirmed by SAA (ch-aviation, 23 Oct 2026) → https://www.ch-aviation.com/news/173175-saa-confirms-605mn-state-guarantee-amid-fuel-pressures
EU Regulation 1008/2008 → https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32008R1008
Air Services Licensing Act 115 of 1990 → https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201503/act-115-1990.pdf
SAA salaries delayed again (TimesLIVE, 22 Oct 2026) → https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-10-22-saa-salaries-delayed-again-as-cash-flow-crunch-threatens-national-carrier/
SAA's finances under fire (Sunday Times, 25 Oct 2026) → https://sundaytimes.timeslive.co.za/news/2026-10-24-saas-finances-under-fire-as-cash-squeeze-tightens
Parliament summons SAA (Daily Maverick, 26 Oct 2026) → https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-26-parliament-summons-saa-demanding-answers-to-deepening-financial-turmoil-and-turbulent-governance/
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Patreon is what keeps this channel producing. It helps massively, and it is the best way to support what I do.
Support on Patreon → https://www.patreon.com/bryanair
Every episode, the full back catalogue and everything we talk about on the show lives in one place.
Bryan Air → https://bryanairpodcast.com/
THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SUPPORTERS
A warm welcome to our newest supporter, Gabedi Mosupukwa.
And thank you to the people who have been carrying the show, some of them for years:
Dale Williams
Duncan Gillespie
Franziska
Jaco
Mike Mason
Iain Findlay
Caroline Koll
ACE
Catharine
Alan Macaulay
Craig Wood
Imre Kurucz
Kelvin Charman

DESCRIPTION:
Turbulence won't necessarily break the aircraft. It will hurt the people who aren't strapped in. The worst hit of my flying career came on a perfectly clear day on final approach into Johannesburg, with not a cloud in the sky, and it ended in a go-around.
This is the episode for anyone who is nervous about flying. I take you through what a Johannesburg summer thunderstorm looks like from the flight deck, what hail did to the nose of an aircraft I used to fly when it never even entered the storm, a flight where the weather radar showed nothing and a passenger died, and the one simple thing the investigators asked you, the passenger, to do about it.
Along the way: how pilots use the weather radar and the 20 mile rule to draw a line around a storm, why thermal turbulence over the Highveld is uncomfortable but not dangerous, why your Cape Town flight is late on a perfect day, what the final report on Singapore Airlines Flight 321 says about clear air turbulence and about the pilots, why some captains leave the seat belt sign on through smooth air and what that costs them, and how the wake from an A380 landing on the parallel runway reached across and hit a 50 seat regional jet on runway 03 Left.
IN THIS EPISODE:
The clear day hit: wake turbulence on final approach into O.R. Tambo and a go-around
Flying around Johannesburg summer storms: the weather radar, the 20 mile rule, TCAS and the aircraft ahead
Thermal turbulence, and what hail thrown out of the side of a storm did to the nose of an aircraft
What we train in the simulator: the decision to go around a storm, not the radar picture
Why your Cape Town flight is late on a perfect day, and the airline that still arrived on time 91 percent of the time in 2025
Clear air turbulence: Singapore Airlines Flight 321, the final report, and the one piece of advice for passengers
The seat belt sign: why it stays on, the cost of leaving it on too long, and the second pint
Table Mountain, mountain waves over George, wind shear, and how wake turbulence actually works
What you should do when the aircraft starts shaking
I'm Bryan Roseveare. I was an airline captain. I still go to work on the flight deck. It's just a full flight simulator now, and the pilots I train are the ones who fly you around.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Go-Around video
→ https://youtu.be/tHNSBARtGtY
SOURCES
Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (Singapore), final report on the Singapore Airlines Flight 321 turbulence event of 21 May 2024, published 19 May 2026
→ https://isomer-user-content.by.gov.sg/287/7900f2d4-78dd-4325-adae-46c128857023/B773ER%20(9V-SWM)%20Turbulence%20event%20over%20Myanmar%2021%20May%202024.pdf
FAA Advisory Circular 00-24C, Thunderstorms
→ https://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/advisory_circular/ac%2000-24c.pdf
FAA Aeronautical Information Manual, Chapter 7 Section 4, Wake Turbulence
→ https://www.faa.gov/Air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap7_section_4.html
Gijben, South African Journal of Science (2012), lightning flash density over South Africa
→ https://scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0038-23532012000200013
Cirium 2025 On-Time Performance Review
→ https://www.bizcommunity.com/article/cirium-reveals-2025-top-on-time-airlines-and-airports-172676a
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Patreon is what keeps this channel producing. It helps massively, and it is the best way to support what I do.
Support on Patreon
→ https://www.patreon.com/bryanair
Every episode, the full back catalogue and everything we talk about on the show lives in one place.
Bryan Air
→ https://bryanairpodcast.com/
THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SUPPORTERS
Thank you to the people who have been carrying the show, some of them for years:
Dale Williams
Duncan Gillespie
Franziska
Jaco
Mike Mason
Iain Findlay
Caroline Koll
ACE
Catharine
Alan Macaulay
Craig Wood
Imre Kurucz
Kelvin Charman

DESCRIPTION:
Every flight through the Gulf this month is being approved on the day, one flight at a time. If your December ticket to Europe or Asia connects in Dubai or Doha, this episode tells you who makes that decision and what to do about your own booking.
This week your phone filled up with videos of missiles over Riyadh and a travel warning from Washington. I read the US security alert for the UAE word for word. It is an alert about the whole region. It does not say the Emirates is unsafe, and it tells Americans to check their flight with the airline.
Then the week as it actually happened: flames and smoke near Riyadh's main airport, which Yemen's Houthis claimed and Saudi Arabia did not confirm. Iranian airlines suspending flights to Baghdad, Muscat, Qatar, Georgia and Azerbaijan after the United States tightened sanctions. Kuwait's airspace closed to aircraft flying over it. The European regulator telling its airlines to stay out of Iran and Iraq entirely, and to avoid flying over the waters of the Gulf except when arriving at or departing from the airports there. The airports themselves are open.
South Africa feels this more than most countries because so much of our traffic to Europe and Asia connects through Dubai and Doha. When the airspace over the Emirates closed on 1 March this year, the airports company counted fourteen cancellations across Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban in a single day.
I explain how an airline decides, every single day, whether a flight goes: the security team, the regulator bulletins, and the flight plan built against whatever airspace is open that morning. Fewer open routes means longer flights, more fuel and less room to move when something changes. I also explain what the crew sees when GPS is being jammed or spoofed, and why that is manageable, because the aircraft has other ways to navigate and we now train for it in the full flight simulator.
Then three things for you: buy the ticket that lets you change, through the airline or a proper travel agent. On the day, check the airline's own flight status, not the news. And read the war and conflict line in your travel insurance.
IN THIS EPISODE
The US travel alert for the UAE, read word for word
What happened in the Gulf this week
Which airspace is open and which is restricted
Why South Africa feels it more than most countries
How an airline decides every day whether a flight goes
What happens when a route closes while you are in the air
GPS jamming and spoofing, and why pilots can manage it
Three things to do with your December ticket
The regulator dates to watch: 30 September and 2 October
I'm Bryan Roseveare. I was an airline captain. I still go to work on the flight deck. It's just a full flight simulator now, and the pilots I train are the ones who fly you around.
SOURCES
US Mission to the UAE, security alert, 19 September 2026
→ https://ae.usembassy.gov/security-alert-u-s-mission-united-arab-emirates-september-19-2026/
EASA Conflict Zone Information Bulletin CZIB-2026-07R2, airspace of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman
→ https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/domains/air-operations/czibs/czib-2026-07r2
ABC News (Reuters reporting), fire near Riyadh airport, 20 September 2026
→ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-20/fire-near-riyadh-airport-as-houthis-attack-saudi-capital/107173362
AFP via The Citizen, Iranian airlines cancel flights as US sanctions take effect, 23 September 2026
→ https://www.citizen.co.za/news/news-world/iran-airlines-cancel-flights-as-us-sanctions-hit/
OPSGROUP, Middle East airspace: current operational picture
→ https://ops.group/blog/middle-east-airspace-current-operational-picture/
Safe Airspace, independent conflict zone and risk tracker
→ https://safeairspace.net/
IOL, UAE airspace closure: ACSA reports 14 South African flights cancelled, 1 March 2026
→ https://iol.co.za/thepost/news/2026-03-01-uae-airspace-remains-closed-acsa-reports-14-sa-flights-cancelled/
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Patreon is what keeps this channel producing. It helps massively, and it is the best way to support what I do.
Support on Patreon
→ https://www.patreon.com/bryanair
Every episode, the full back catalogue and everything we talk about on the show lives in one place.
Bryan Air
→ https://bryanairpodcast.com/
THANK YOU TO OUR PATREON SUPPORTERS
A warm welcome to our newest supporter, Kelvin Charman.
And thank you to the people who have been carrying the show, some of them for years:
Dale Williams
Duncan Gillespie
Franziska
Jaco
Mike Mason
Iain Findlay
Caroline Koll
ACE
Catharine
Alan Macaulay
Craig Wood
Imre Kurucz

DESCRIPTION:
Brent crude went back through 100 dollars a barrel on 9 September after the United States and Iran started striking each other again, and it was still above 100 dollars nearly two weeks later. Fuel makes up 50 to 55 percent of what it costs FlySafair to operate a flight. Put those two facts together and you have the reason a family of four is looking at the price of flying to Cape Town this long weekend and quietly getting the car keys out instead.
Bryan and Ryan take the fuel story apart from the pilot's side of the door. Why Johannesburg has had a jet fuel supply problem of its own since an unplanned shutdown at the Natref refinery in late August, and what tankering actually means when an airline carries extra fuel into Johannesburg so it does not have to fill up there. Why FlySafair calls tankering a last resort, and why the cost of every contingency ends up in your ticket. Whether the surcharges that came in during March ever really went away when oil dipped. And the question everyone is asking: if you are flying in December, should you book now?
Then the guys tell their own low-fuel stories, and these are the best fifteen minutes of the episode. Ryan on a Friday night flight to Windhoek early in his airline career, the weather closing in, and a diversion to Gaborone flown right down to reserves. Bryan on a DC-9 to the Seychelles with his father doing the fuel calculations on a whizz wheel, the numbers getting worse and worse, until they realised his dad's watch had stopped. A CRJ out of East London with the nose gear stuck down, held at 15,000 feet and 250 knots, Bloemfontein closed by weather, and a landing in Johannesburg with about 500 kilograms of fuel left. And Ryan in a medevac Hawker coming home from Mauritius into a 160 knot headwind, when the flight computer said fuel remaining at Lanseria: zero.
Also this week: a GPS fault that grounded Azul's Embraer E2 fleet in Brazil for three hours, and why pilots are being told to expect GPS not to work. Boeing's 777X certification slipping into 2027 because the engine fix still needs testing. A missile strike on the fuel storage tanks at Riyadh's airport. Qatar Airways calling this war the biggest crisis in its history and cutting back to routes that make money. And the UK's air traffic control system failing for the second time in two weeks.
IN THIS EPISODE
Oil back above 100 dollars, and what the jet fuel price is doing to airfares.
Johannesburg's jet fuel supply squeeze after the Natref refinery shutdown.
Tankering explained: what it is, why airlines avoid it, and who pays for it.
Fuel is half the cost of a flight, so every surcharge starts there.
What a return ticket to George actually costs this weekend, and why Cape Town on FlySafair still looked reasonable.
Getting overseas without paying a fortune: the RwandAir route and flying via the UAE.
Should you book December flights now? The guys give an honest answer.
Ryan's diversion to Gaborone on reserves, and Bryan's DC-9 fuel scare that turned out to be a stopped watch.
Landing a CRJ in Johannesburg with 500 kilograms of fuel, and a medevac Hawker showing fuel remaining zero over the Indian Ocean.
The Embraer E2 GPS fault, and why GPS can no longer be trusted blindly.
Boeing 777X delayed again, the Riyadh airport fuel depot strike, Qatar Airways in crisis, and the UK's second ATC failure in two weeks.
I'm Bryan Roseveare. I was an airline captain. I still go to work on the flight deck. It's just a full flight simulator now, and the pilots I train are the ones who fly you around.
SOURCES
Brent crude tops 100 dollars as US-Iran strikes stoke supply worries, CNBC (9 September 2026)
→ https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/09/oil-prices-today-wti-brent-us-iran-hormuz-attacks.html
Current price of oil as of 21 September 2026, Fortune
→ https://fortune.com/article/price-of-oil-09-21-2026/
IATA Jet Fuel Price Monitor
→ https://www.iata.org/en/publications/economics/fuel-monitor/
September 2026 fuel price: petrol up R1.34, diesel up R2.94 inland, Daily Maverick
→ https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-31-sa-motorists-cant-escape-the-petrol-price-pain-in-september/
FlySafair introduces a temporary fuel surcharge, fuel is 50 to 55 percent of direct operating costs (11 March 2026)
→ https://news.flysafair.co.za/2026/temporary-fuel-surcharge/
Airlines consider carrying extra jet fuel to avoid disruptions at OR Tambo, EWN (28 August 2026)
→ https://www.ewn.co.za/2026/08/28/airlines-consider-carrying-extra-jet-fuel-to-avoid-flight-disruptions-at-or-tambo
Sasol refinery shutdown curbs Johannesburg jet fuel supply, Moneyweb
→ https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/industry/sa-airlines-scramble-as-jet-fuel-supply-is-disrupted/
GPS problem halts Azul's Embraer E2 flights for nearly three hours, Air Data News (22 September 2026)
→ https://www.airdatanews.com/gps-problem-halts-azuls-embraer-e2-flights-for-nearly-three-hours/
Boeing says 777-9 testing could extend into 2027 over GE9X issue, Air Data News (17 September 2026)
→ https://www.airdatanews.com/boeing-says-777-9-testing-could-extend-into-2027-over-ge-9-x-issue/
Missile hits fuel storage depot at Riyadh airport, Paddle Your Own Kanoo (19 September 2026)
→ https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2026/09/19/watch-missile-hits-fuel-storage-depot-at-riyadh-international-airport-sending-huge-plume-of-black-smoke-into-sky/
Qatar Airways faces biggest crisis in 30 years amid Iran conflict, Aviation A2Z (21 September 2026)
→ https://aviationa2z.com/index.php/2026/09/21/qatar-airways-faces-biggest-crisis-in-30-years-amid-iran-conflict/
Ryanair demands NATS chief resign after second ATC failure in two weeks, AeroXplorer
→ https://aeroxplorer.com/articles/ryanair-demands-nats-chief-resign-after-second-air-traffic-control-failure-in-two-weeks.php
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Every episode, the full back catalogue and everything we talk about on the show lives in one place. If you only click one link today, make it this one.
Bryan Air
→ https://bryanairpodcast.com/
Support on Patreon
→ https://www.patreon.com/bryanair