SAA has announced that it will be launching flights to new destinations as well as increasing capacity on some of its existing routes as it is “ready to consider life after restructuring and is about to enter a moderate growth phase”.
From April, SAA will operate twice weekly flights to Douala (Cameroon) and onwards to Dakar (Senegal). The airline says it has also forged a commercial agreement with the DRC airline, Lignes Ariennes Congolaises (LAC) allowing for an additional two flights to the DRC from Johannesburg. An additional flight is also being added to the Libreville (Gabon) route from March, which will be extended to fly onwards to Abidjan and Dakar in April.
On its international network, SAA will increase its Perth flights from five to six per week from July and says flights will be retimed to allow for improved connectivity.
SAA plans to operate New York non-stop from May next year at which time the Washington-Johannesburg flight will stop in Dakar with connecting onward flights on SAA to Douala, Abidjan and Libreville.
SAA ceo, Khaya Ngqula, says: “At a time when many other airlines are consolidating or reducing their flights, the success of SAA’s restructuring programme has left the airline well placed to explore growth plans for the future”.
The statement sent out by the airline made no mention of what aircraft the airline would be using for the new flights.
