SAA will not be restarting flights to London yet. Image : Unsplash
The recent lifting of the travel ban against South Africa and the removal of South Africa from the UK’s red list has led to a surge in demand for air tickets between the two countries. The national carrier will not however be relaunching flights to the UK at this moment.
This might come as a disappointment to SAA Voyager members who were hoping to redeem miles for flights to overseas destinations such as the United Kingdom.
UK-based carriers British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have already announced increased frequencies of their flights to Johannesburg, as well as the resumption of their services on the Cape Town route. These adjustments come as a consequence of the increase in passenger bookings between the United Kingdom and South Africa. UK A STRATEGIC ROUTE FOR SA TOURISM
The United Kingdom was South Africa’s top tourism source country, with close on 440 000 Brits travelling to South Africa in 2019. SAA operated daily flights between Johannesburg and London prior to the onset of the pandemic.
The current spike in demand for flights between the two countries has pushed flight prices up significantly . The rise in demand for flights on this important route might have been an ideal opportunity for SAA to restart its flights on the Johannesburg-London route.
SAA recently announced that it will resume flights to Mauritius in November . However, the airline will not be restarting long-haul flights to the UK just yet. SAA intends to relaunch its intercontinental route network in a cautious and calculated way. SAA IS ABLE…BUT NOT READY
South African Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer Simon Newton-Smith told Biznews that the airline has the necessary aircraft, the airport slots, and required licenses to operate flights to the United Kingdom but that it would not be wise to restart the route at this moment. “We could jump on that bandwagon. We’ve got aircrafts that can fly to London. We still have the slots and still have the licences. We could do it but it would not be the most prudent thing to do for the longer term,” he said. SHORT-TERM SPIKE IN DEMAND
Newton-Smith said that it is not in the interests of South African Airways to resume its London flight schedules yet, despite the sudden surge in demand for flights between the two destinations.
He said that the airline is […]