(Photo by: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) South African Airways makes its long-awaited return on 23 September.
It’s offering the cheapest flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town in stark contrast to its previous pricing model.
The national carrier will be a leaner beast, operating a limited fleet with flights to seven destinations.
Johannesburg to Cape Town is SAA’s only domestic route, but it will fly to Accra, Kinshasa, Harare, Lusaka, and Maputo, where it will be pitted against an old friend.
For more stories go to www.BusinessInsider.co.za .
South African Airways (SAA) returns to the skies on 23 September after being grounded for more than a year. It returns as a much leaner airline, beating its competitors with the cheapest flights between Cape Town and Johannesburg.
South Africa’s national carrier has remerged following a protracted business rescue process which followed years of serious financial losses and costly government bailouts. But the SAA which relaunches in late-September is a different incarnation of the national carrier which last flew in March and enters an industry ravaged by Covid-19 .
For starters, the airline won’t return as a purely state-owned enterprise, and has found a private equity partner – accounting for 51% of the national carrier – in Takatso Consortium. Where SAA used to fly to 20 destinations across six continents, it will now, operating a reduced fleet with a smaller number of pilots, only service seven destinations.
"More destinations will be added to the route network as it ramps up operations in response to market conditions," said SAA’s Interim CEO Thomas Kgokolo on Wednesday.
SAA will only operate one domestic route – Africa’s busiest – between Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport and Cape Town. It will also fly to Kinshasa, Harare, Lusaka, Maputo, and Accra on the African continent with plans to include Mumbai.
The national carrier’s decline was hastened by the popularity of low-cost competitors like FlySafair and Kulula, which focused on servicing busy domestic routes using lean fleets without frills. By the time SAA entered business rescue, its fares were easily beaten by these domestic competitors . Re-entering the market, at a time when airline’s have had to fight to stay afloat during the pandemic, SAA’s ticket prices are now more competitive. SAA returns with the cheapest flights from Joburg to Cape Town In the case of its one-way flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town in […]
