Both South African Airways and its retail trade partners cannot wait to see the airline resume the first of its long-haul international flights, starting with São Paulo and Perth this year.
The airline says although timelines are not set in stone, it is working to bring back both services before the end of 2023.
Tebogo Tsimane, SAA CCO, revealed to Travel News the airline’s intentions for its long-haul revival in a recent webcast interview (watch part 1 of that interview here). He said Perth and São Paulo would come first among several desirable routes – London, Frankfurt, Washington, New York and a second destination in Australia, to name a few.
Morne du Preez, CEO of Tourvest Travel Services, said any additional long-haul or international routes would be beneficial to the Tourvest group, especially an increase in availability for inbound passengers. “For TTS (the retail travel arm of Tourvest), the increase in flights, particularly to South America, will create more opportunities for us and will certainly support our plan to expand globally.”
Rachael Penaluna, Business Manager of Sure Maritime Travel, added: “Of any routes in the world, these (São Paulo and Perth) are where we need availability.”
Penaluna described a significant amount of VFR traffic coming and going between both destinations. She said South Africans had very little choice at the moment and noted that flights to Australia by Qantas and Middle East carriers such as Qatar and Emirates were mostly full and expensive.
She added that travel to onward destinations like New Zealand (through Perth), would be easier after SAA’s return to Perth. “SAA is very much missing on these routes. Flights are full and can cost a fortune. VFR traffic has also definitely now increased due to the travel bans during COVID-19.”
Concerning São Paulo, Penaluna said currently TAAG Angola Airlines offered the quickest non-direct routing from SA via Luanda.
Sue Garrett, GM Supply, Pricing and Marketing, Flight Centre Travel Group South Africa, said the additional capacity was welcome news and that direct routes were generally more popular than indirect services. However, she said price would be a deciding factor. “The return of a direct flight between Johannesburg and São Paulo is great news. However, we foresee customers weighing up the costs versus what is available on indirect routes.
“The direct flight between Johannesburg and Perth will be popular based on the historic numbers we have available. It’s a much-needed direct option for flights serving the Western Australian region.”
SAA had originally hoped to get São Paulo off the ground before the end of its financial year at the end of March. However, that was not to be.
“We have had to delay our original plans to start São Paulo in the first quarter of this calendar year. Due to various reasons, including securing the additional aircraft for this next exciting phase of our restart, we have postponed our restart of SAO to the beginning of the northern winter season. The plans are progressing well. In the coming month or two, we will announce the actual start date. We will also announce plans for PER (Perth),” he said.
Tsimane told Travel News that SAA would be using Airbus A330s to operate some of its long-haul flights in the short-term, however it would add a fleet of A350s for ‘phase two’ of its long-haul restart plan.
