SAA has announced that
it will replace the A340-
600 on its JohannesburgLondon
route with an Airbus
A330-200 from March 28,
decreasing capacity on the
popular route.
When asked why, SAA
spokesperson, Tlali Tlali,
said the decision had been
informed by customer
feedback “so that we are
able to meet the expectations
of our passengers”. The
aircraft is congured with 36
business-class seats, only
six fewer than the A340-600.
There are 186 economy-class
seats on the A330-200, down
considerably from 275.
Linden Birns, md of Plane
Talking, says the decision
could boost yield and raise
load factors. “In the current
environment, you want to
match supply with demand, or
make sure that the demand is
higher than the supply so that
you can command competitive
fares and get the maximum
yield,” he says.
Linden also points out
that the bulk of an airline’s
prot margin comes from
business class as opposed
to economy class. “If you can
adjust that ratio by having a
slightly smaller aircraft with
fewer economy-class seats
and improve the ration of
premium to economy, then
you’ll improve the yields on
that ight.”
British Airways recently
increased capacity on its route
between Johannesburg and
London, with the addition of
three weekly A380 services to
its existing B747-400 weekly
services. BA will add a further
three services by March 6.
Linden adds that the
London route is a tough
trading environment for SAA
because it is up against two
UK-based carriers that have
an advantage in terms of
cost. He says the UK carriers
generate the bulk of their
revenue in rm currency – the
pound – while SAA generates
its revenue in rands. The
bulk of airline overheads are
in hard currencies. When
releasing its nancials earlier
this year, SAA made much
of this point, blaming the
weakened rand for its losses.
Another factor that may have
informed SAA’s decision is
that, until recently, SAA was
unable to y a twin-engine
aircraft, such as the A330-
200, on the route. Linden
says airlines overying oceans
and desolate terrain with twinengine
aircraft are subject to
stringent rules, or Extended
Range Twin Operations
(ETOPS).
“SAA has only recently
achieved full ETOPS
compliance,” says Linden,
adding that the airline is now
not limited in terms of how it
operates its A330s and adds
that the airline could introduce
the aircraft on other routes.
