SAA adds more travel options in Africa

In a statement, on Thursday, 31 July, SAA said it was increasing flights on the Johannesburg-Lagos route, where it will offer eight frequencies per week effective from 1 August.

"All flights will be operated with a long-haul Airbus aircraft offering lie-flat seats in business class, which we anticipate will be welcomed by our business class travellers, as we have seen a tremendous growth in demand for premium travel in Africa," SAA General Manager Commercial (Acting) Kendy Phohleli said.

According to SAA, the new flight on Tuesdays (SA080) will depart Johannesburg at 11pm to arrive in Lagos at 4:15am the next day. SA081 returns on Wednesday from Lagos departing at 8am to arrive back in Johannesburg at 2:55pm.

Africa routes on which frequencies were recently increased include:

• Johannesburg-Harare (18 to 19 per week);
  
• Johannesburg-Lusaka (20 to 21);
  
• Johannesburg-Abidjan (from two to three per week);
  
• Johannesburg-Blantyre (from two to three per week);
  
• Johannesburg-Dar es Salaam (from 13 to 14 per week);
  
• Johannesburg-Kinshasa (from four to six per week);
  
• Johannesburg-Nairobi (from 10 to 11 per week);
  
• Johannesburg-Ndola (three to four per week); and
  
• Johannesburg-Windhoek (20 to 21 per week).

The new schedule will provide greater/additional connectivity to the SAA network and accommodate the current passenger and cargo demand SAA is experiencing on the route.

SAA has also made changes to its international route network, where frequencies on the route between Johannesburg and Mumbai have been reduced by one per week to six weekly frequencies, (effective from 1 July 2014). SAA will, however, offer the same number of seats as a bigger aircraft will be used on the Mumbai route.

The Tuesday Mumbai departure will no longer be operated as this flight historically shows low demand.

"This is a change also aligned with SAA's Gaining Altitude strategy, where frequencies on low-performing routes are adjusted in line with our key strategic objective to achieve, and maintain, commercial sustainability, while supporting South Africa's development agenda," said Phohleli.

SAA, Africa's most awarded airline, operates to 40 destinations worldwide.

In its domestic market SAA has an extensive schedule operating 554 flights in total per week between Johannesburg - Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth, from its Johannesburg hub, as well as code-shared flights between Lanseria - Cape Town and Durban.

Regionally, SAA offers 24 destinations across the African continent including Abidjan, Accra and Harare.