South African Airways (SAA) has announced that it will launch two new international routes from Johannesburg this coming November.
The first will fly to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the second to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
No departure or arrival times have been furnished as yet, and neither has the cost of the tickets.
Upon their introduction, the new African locations will bring the total number of routes in the SAA network to 17, the airline said.
Road to recovery
Interim CEO of SAA, John Lamola, revealed the addition of the new flights as the airline celebrated three years since it returned to the skies.
The national flag carrier entered voluntary business rescue in December 2019, just weeks before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, after a prolonged period of financial hardships.
Following 18 months of non-operation and comprehensive restructuring, SAA returned to operation on 23 September 2021 with just six aircraft and six routes.
Now just over three years later, the airline has achieved massive growth in comparison to when it exited business rescue proceedings.
“We are proud that between August 2022 and August 2024, we have grown the airline to 16 aircraft flying 15 routes, with a 400% growth in passenger revenues during that period,” said Lamola.
“To date, we have reopened 11 outstations, including Mauritius, Perth in Australia, and São Paulo in Brazil.”
Furthermore, SAA expanded its staff complement over this period from 500 to around 1,200, including 140 pilots.
The group’s earnings have soared as a result.
For the 2022/23 financial year, based on a fleet of six aircraft and six routes, SAA revenue grew by a stellar 96%, from R2 billion to R5.6 billion.
For the 2023/24 financial year, the airline revenue increased by a further 49% to R7.3 billion owing to fleet capacity reaching 13 aircraft.
“The external audit of the 2022/23 financial results is completed and closed, and the audit of the year ending March 2024 is currently underway, with all indications pointing to a net profit for the year,” said Lamola.
The road to recovery hasn’t been without its challenges, however.
The global supply constraints of aircraft resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic and the production problems at aircraft manufacturers have negatively affected SAA’s revival, with the delivery of three aircraft that were expected during the last calendar year still delayed.
SAA thus had to devise innovative ways to work around these roadblocks, which includes the leasing of aircraft from Sun Express, , which is jointly owned by Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, to satisfy demand during peak periods such as December.
Onwards and upwards
Last month President Cyril Ramaphosa assigned shareholder responsibility for SAA to the national Department of Transport and Minister Barbara Creecy.
Lamola said the airline’s leadership has already met with the minister to provide a full debrief on the state of the airline, and its plans for the medium and long term.
“SAA is excited to be a member of the family of state-owned transport infrastructure entities. Our focus is being sharpened to being facilitators of world-class passenger air transportation into and out of South Africa,” he said.
Lamola elaborated that SAA is currently executing a business plan that allows the airline to thrive from revenues generated from its operations.
“The question of whether there will be another strategic equity partnership is tied to SAA’s future growth plans and remains the prerogative of the shareholder,” he said.
“As with any airline, SAA’s growth and defense of market share will require continuous capital investment. Therefore, it is part of our job to investigate financing options to fund further expansion and the elevation of our customer service.”
Supported by the board, SAA has identified a range of assets that can be leveraged to unlock funding options, including a real estate portfolio valued at R5.5 billion and surplus aircraft stock that it is actively liquidating.
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