Pure maths, SAA at 2008 58 a/c 11000 employees. First world airlines at about 50 a/c have between 3000 to 6000 employees - Guess how much toilet paper an extra 5 to 6000 people use.. LOL go figure
This is from the Star Alliance 2008:
Air Canada (AC) 335 aircraft 27,619 Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver
Air China (CA) 207 aircraft 18,872 Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai
Air New Zealand (NZ)96 aircraft 10,829 Auckland, Los Angeles
ANA (NH)216 aircraft 22,170 Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya
Asiana Airlines (OZ)65 aircraft 8,180 Seoul Incheon
Austrian (OS)105 aircraft 8,500 Vienna 34 aircr
bmi (BD)50 aircraft 4,378 London Heathrow, Manchester
EgyptAir (MS)49 aircraft 20,734 Cairo
LOT Polish Airlines (LO)54 aircraft 3,600 Warsaw
Lufthansa (LH) 430 aircraft 94,510 Frankfurt, Munich
Scandinavian Airlines (SK)180 aircraft 7,588 Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm
Shanghai Airlines (FM)59 aircraft 5,460 Shanghai
Singapore Airlines (SQ)92 aircraft 13,924 Singapore Changi
South African Airways (SA)58 aircraft 11,000 Johannesburg
Spanair (JK)63 aircraft 3,549 Madrid, Barcelona
SWISS (LX)74 aircraft 6,519 Zurich, Geneva, Basel
TAP Portugal (TP)67 aircraft 6,093 Lisbon
Thai Airways Intl. (TG)85 aircraft 26,435 Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket,
Turkish Airlines (TK)97 aircraft 10,591 Istanbul
United (UA)460 aircraft 55,000 Chicago, Denver, San Francisco,
Los Angeles, Washington, D.C.
US Airways (US) 356* aircraft 36,500 Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Las Vegas
Some airlines are notably more "well staffed" than others - look at Egypt air - why so many? .. Lufthansa for instance have a reason as they do all their heavy maintainence in house. Thai fly around with 2 full flight crews and about 22 to 24 cabin crew..