SAA operated first commercial flight on A350

After some weeks of training, South African Airways operated on its first Airbus A350-900 aircraft the first commercial flight, domestically, on 24 December 2019. The flight lead from Johannisburg to Capetown and bac as SA 323 and SA 336 on the return flight.

The aircraft is one of four new Airbus A350-900 jets in South African Airways’ fleet and it shall improve the customers' experience as well as the future goals of the airline.

The more Airbus A350 are being introduced in the coming year, the more routes will be operated by the Airbus A350-900s, such as SAA’s ultra-long haul routes between Johannesburg and New York JFK John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

Over a 5-year period, South African Airways hopes to achieve about 25% lower operating costs using the A350-900 XWB compared to its four-engine Airbus A340s. Over the last years, it has been again and again communicated that the fuel consumption of the A340 was one of the major SAA's problems.