South African Airways adds capacity and new destinations
South African Airways (SAA) is adding three Airbus A320s to its fleet. That will enable the airline to resume service to several African destinations before restarting an intercontinental route in the first quarter of 2023.
South African Airways currently operates 7 Airbus aircraft, consisting of 2x A320s, 3x A319s, 1x A330-300 and 1x A340-300. The A340 aircraft supports the schedule as an additional aircraft during required fleet maintenance or when capacity demand requires the deployment of a larger aircraft accommodating more passengers.
As the peak holiday season approaches, SAA is bringing into service an additional three A320 aircraft, bringing the total number of A320s to 5 aircraft to support the high-capacity demand. The first of these was delivered on 25th September 2022 and the rest will be delivered every month from thence.
South African Airways is pleased to confirm that the International Air Services Council (IASC) has ratified that SAA retains all its historical route traffic rights, following SAA’s voluntary relinquishing of the number of frequencies on the destinations it is not currently servicing.
In accordance with legislated and prescribed procedures, SAA meets with the IASC on a quarterly basis to review and justify its route network plan and traffic rights to destinations it is not yet flying to.
In the coming weeks, the airline will be announcing the addition of more routes to its growing network. SAA will be introducing flights to Blantyre and Lilongwe in Malawi, Windhoek in Namibia, and Victoria Falls, in Zimbabwe before the start of the festive season.
Together with increased frequencies to Accra in Ghana, Cape Town, Durban, Harare in Zimbabwe, Lusaka in Zambia, Mauritius and Kinshasa in the DRC, these changes represent the second phase of SAA’s post-Covid restart operations which commenced thirteen months ago.
The airline is on course to re-enter some of its traditional regional markets and enter new routes which remain underserved. Plans are also underway to launch SAA’s first post re-start intercontinental route during the first quarter of the new year.
