South African Airways (SAA) has announced that the codeshare agreement between it and its Brazilian counterpart, Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, is back in place.
This is a renewal of the SAA/Gol agreement that was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic, which gives passengers advantages such as more fare options, single ticket purchases in local currency for itineraries on both airlines, guaranteed protection on connecting flights, simplified flight booking, single check-in and baggage claim for connecting trips, as well as more destinations within the GOL and South African Airways networks.
This comes approximately nine months after SAA launched direct flights to São Paulo, Brazil, and five months after the introduction of direct flights into Australia via Perth.
The revived SAA/Gol agreement includes flights between Cape Town International, OR Tambo International, and Galeão-Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
It extends to domestic routes connecting Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha, and Johannesburg, giving Brazilian visitors access to the nation’s four major economic and tourism hubs.
The agreement further allows SAA to add its designated code on more than 20 connecting Gol-operated flights in Brazil, including but not limited to Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, and Rio de Janeiro.
In time, the airlines will also add 60 additional Latin American destinations and many African ones to the agreement, giving travellers more choice and making it simpler to plan multi-city itineraries on a single SAA/Gol codeshare ticket.
“The reinstatement of the codeshare agreement affirms Brazil’s status as a strategically important destination for South Africa,” said SAA Chief Commercial Officer Tebogo Tsimane.
“It connects two major economies in the southern hemisphere to enable leisure tourism, and to facilitate business, networking, and trade.”
At present, SAA runs two flights per week between Guarulhos and Cape Town, and another two between São Paulo and Johannesburg, all operated by Airbus A330-300 aircraft with 249 seats.
Big expansion plans
Alongside the revival of the SAA/Gol agreement, the airline plans to add 64% new destinations from its hub in Johannesburg by the end of April.
The company aims to add nine destinations to its existing 14 and plans to boost the number of aircraft by 50% to 21 by March, interim Chief Executive Officer John Lamola told Bloomberg, adding that the South African flag carrier has the cash to fund its expansion.
While the airline African Airways won’t seek bailouts, it would ask for sovereign guarantees to expand over the next three years, Lamola said.
He also revealed that SAA plans to open routes to Frankfurt, Munich, London, and cities on the east coast of the US, though those destinations would only be considered in the year ending March 2028.
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