New routes for SAA before end of year

SAA will announce four new routes – two long-haul and two regional – before the end of the year, said Nomfanelo Magwentshu, SAA gm business development, at a media briefing on September 28. She said SAA had short-listed three cities in both North America and Europe from which the two new long-haul destinations would be selected. The regional destinations under consideration were one central African and one West African city, she said. SAA will operate a non-stop flight from Washington to Johannesburg from October 30, reducing flight time from North America by three hours, said Nomfanelo Magwentshu, SAA gm business development at a media briefing on September 28. Previously the flight stopped in Dakar. According to SAA, this would be the only non-stop flight from North America to South Africa, but the flight to Washington will still stop in Dakar. One additional weekly season flight will also be operated to Perth, London and Frankfurt during the December/January period, Magwentshu said. According to SAA’s new head of network planning and scheduling, Max Riley, the additional Perth service was due to demand from VFR traffic, while the London and Frankfurt services were to cater to growing inbound demand. Other changes for the winter schedule include operating a B747-400 to São Paulo over December/January and changing the flight from Entebbe, Uganda to Johannesburg to a night flight. Livingstone will be served daily from October 29, compared to the current thrice-weekly flight. Lucy Siebert (lucys@nowmedia.co.za)