PICS: South African Airways Airbus A320 - New Interior

South African Airways Launches Travel Trade Website

 

South African Airways has launched a brand new trade website aimed at providing trade partners with up-to-date information on South African’s national airline. The site has been designed to serve as a useful one-stop-shop for the trade to use and includes details on SAA’s routes and fleet, plus SAA contact information, FAQs as well as the latest news from the airline. It also serves as a platform for trade to download the latest aircraft images and logos if needed, and features a Live Chat function to offer a new way to communicate with the SAA team.
 

Katie Edwards, Marketing & Comms Executive said, ‘We’re really excited about the launch of our first trade website and the opportunity it presents us to offer a new and engaging way to communicate with our trade partners. We hope it will play an important role in continuing to improve how we work more closely with the trade in the future.’ Gary Kershaw, Country Manager UK for SAA said, ‘We said that SAA needed to improve its relationships with the UK travel trade.  So alongside the new SAA team, the new trade website brings real time, digital news, information and support to our trade partners.’

SAA operates the first direct flight of the day from Heathrow to Johannesburg and has built an outstanding reputation for punctuality, winning the Flight Stats Award for the Most on Time Airline in the World twice during 2013. The airline, a Star Alliance member, operates double daily flights from Heathrow Terminal 1 to Johannesburg connecting to over 30 destinations within Southern Africa.

Source: IncentiveTravel

SAA eyes new international routes

 

SAA plans to add new routes to its international network, including Russia, through existing and new partnerships with other airlines. According to a recent Government Gazette, the airline has applied for a number of new routes as well as more frequencies on some of its existing regional routes. These include Moscow, Russia; Asuncion, Paraguay; Lomé, Togo; Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago; Montevideo, Uruguay; Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Praia and Ilha do Sol, Cape Verde; Ndjamena, Chad; Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; Jakarta, Indonesia; Kingston, Jamaica; and Abuja, Nigeria. The introduction dates for all routes range from April to July this year.

 

SAA Spokesperson, Tlali Tlali, told Tourism Update: “SAA has stated it would be suspending some of its international routes in an effort to increase profitability. This is indeed still the case. However, SAA still has to have a presence on the international stage, which will be done by expanding and/or entering into new codeshare arrangements and not by a direct service by SAA. At this stage certain markets do not warrant the introduction of direct services by SAA and therefore we have taken the decision to serve these on a codeshare-only basis.”

 

He says that, in terms of the International Air Services Act, for a South African carrier to be able to serve a specific destination, be it in its own right or on a codeshare basis, a carrier has to hold the underlying traffic rights. “It is SAA’s intention to expand certain of its existing codeshare arrangements and/or enter into new codeshares. Due to discussions that are still ongoing, we are not able to advise who the future codeshare partners will be,” says Tlali.

 

In Africa, SAA has also applied for additional rights to some destinations it already serves. These include seven return flights a week to Accra, Ghana; five return flights per week to both Blantyre and Lilongwe, Malawi; and two return flights per week to Lagos, Nigeria.

 

Source: TourismUpDate

SAA codeshares with Virgin Australia

 

 

South African Airways recently announced a new codeshare agreement with Virgin Australia. SAA flies daily between Johannesburg and Perth and this new partnership offers SAA customers expanded access across Australia to domestic destinations such as Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.

 

The codeshare tickets went on sale on 7 February, for travel from 11 February. Virgin Australia has been an interline partner of SAA since July 2010, when the two airlines had a commercial agreement to handle those customers travelling on both airlines. SAA is now expanding this relationship into a codeshare agreement. 

 

Customers will also have the benefit of through-checking their baggage and receiving boarding passes from Johannesburg to their end destination in Australia, and onto any destination in Africa served by SAA when flying from Australia. Voyager members will continue to earn their miles for their entire itinerary.

 

Source: BusinessTravellerAfrica

SAA Late Departure back to O.R. Tambo

Special Thanks to William Whaley on airliners.net

Ethiopian Airlines Planned 787 Resumption

Ethiopian Airlines is set to resume Boeing 787 Dreamliner service on the Addis-Harare-Lusaka route starting May 16, 2013.  Boeing 787s have been grounded since regulators ordered all 50 planes out of the skies in mid-January after batteries on two of them overheated. US regulators approved a new battery design on Friday 19th April, clearing the way for installation.

Ethiopian Airlines 787 Schedule for African Routes:

• Addis Ababa – Lusaka – Harare – Addis Ababa 16MAY13, 4 weekly
• Addis Ababa – Harare – Lusaka – Addis Ababa 17MAY13, 3 weekly
• Addis Ababa – Johannesburg 16JUN13, 1 daily

Source: Airlineroute

EgyptAir Discount Fares to Harare

Egyptair which plans to resume flights between Cairo and Harare from June 1st after a nine year absence, is offering a 20 percent discount on ticket purchases between April 8th to 30th and travel between June 1st and 21st. The airline will deploy a Boeing 737-800 a/c on the 4 weekly Cairo-Dar Es Salaam-Harare route.
Egyptair chairman and chief executive Captain Roshdy Zakaria said the new service between Harare and Cairo via Dar Es Salaam will connect to the entire Egyptair network in the Middle East, Far East and Europe. The new service comes as part of Egyptair's network expansion plan which enhances their presence as a main gateway to the world. The new service will increase Egyptair's destinations in Africa to 19 in addition to five more destinations via code-share agreements.

EGYPTAIR Plans to Resume Harare Service from June 2013

EGYPTAIR from 01JUN13 plans to resume service to Harare, Zimbabwe after a 9 year halt. The Star Alliance member currently plans to extend its existing 4 weekly Cairo – Dar es Salaam service to Harare, on board Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Currently reservation for this flight is not available, and GDS timetable listing is only displaying one-way flight.

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