ACCRA, Ghana’s capital,
is set to become SAA’s
West African hub
following the signing of an
MOU between South Africa’s
national carrier and Africa
World Airlines (AWA), a privately
owned Ghanaian airline.
This is SAA’s second
attempt at a West Africa
focus. Mid-2014, SAA opened
discussions with Ethiopian
Airlines and Togo-based Asky
(of which ET is part-owner)
to establish a West African
presence in Accra, but this
did not happen. Now, SAA
is very pleased with the
enabling environment set up
by the government of Ghana,
said Vuyani Jarana, SAA ceo.
This has allowed the parties
to explore and cement this
commercial agreement.
Vuyani went on to say that
timing of agreements such as
this was an important aspect.
“We have to look at market
dynamics,” he said, adding
that SAA had focused on West
Africa as a matter of critical
importance, in line with the
airline’s push for more intraAfrica connectivity.
AWA currently operates eight
aircraft to several destinations
in four West African countries.
It flies to four destinations in
Ghana and connects Accra
to Lagos and Abuja (Nigeria),
Freetown (Sierra Leone) and
Monrovia (Liberia). It plans to
launch a route to Abidjan in
Côte d’Ivoire later this year.
Crucial connection
With the opening of Terminal 3
at Kotoka International Airport,
Accra had become a far easier
place for connecting flights
than other airports in the
region, said Sean Mendis, AWA
coo. The SAA-operated flight
between Accra and Washington
was crucial for the region,
and particularly for Nigerian
travellers, said Sean. He said
the timing of AWA’s Nigerian
flights and the departure of the
Washington flights were wellsuited for connections. “There
is only a one- or two-hour wait
between AWA’s Lagos and
Abuja flights and the SAA flight
to Washington,” he said.
Good growth
The two airlines already share
an interline agreement. SAA
regional gm for Africa, Aaron
Munetsi, said the airlines
were seeing 15 connecting
passengers a day. Vuyani said
this number had been from
completely organic growth.
“We have done no marketing
on this agreement while
we ironed out the technical
glitches. Now that we are sure
the technology can back the
experience, we will be doing
a marketing push and we
expect far greater numbers of
connecting passengers.”
Sean and Vuyani reiterated
that a codeshare would be the
next step, and that the airlines
were hoping to finalise this
shortly.
African partnership
SAA’s persistent financial
woes have not scared off AWA.
Sean said the most appealing
part of the agreement was
that it was a truly African
partnership. “AWA has seen
the efforts by SAA’s current
management team to turn
the airline around and, in fact,
looks upon SAA as something
to emulate.” He added that
AWA had some business
tactics that SAA could learn
from: “We are a profitable
African-run and -based airline,
which is something to be
proud of. The downside of
SAA’s finances are outweighed
by the commercial benefits of
this agreement.”
