HE SAA Group – which
includes SAA, SA Express,
and Mango – plans to
continue strengthening its
African network, with more
frequencies in the SADC
region and West Africa.
Public Enterprise Minister,
Malusi Gigaba, speaking
at the recent Captains of
Industry event at Emperors
Palace in Johannesburg, said
the group planned to increase
frequencies to destinations
within the SADC region as
early as May. Meanwhile, SAA
would continue to focus on
West Africa, where it can build
a competitive advantage.
The Minister said the
group was still looking into
establishing a West African
hub with the help of the right
airline partner and adding
capacity to Ghana would still
be a focus for SAA.
The airline has applied for
three services to Freetown,
Sierra Leone, which is not
currently on its network. It
has also applied for three
flights to Libreville, Gabon,
which if granted, could
potentially allow for daily
flights to the destination. SAA
has also applied for one flight
a week to Abuja, Nigeria.
SAA spokesperson, Tlali
Tlali, confirmed that the
above applications had been
made to the Air Services
Licensing Council, but added:
“We would not want to get
ahead of ourselves and
comment more elaborately
about what changes could
occur before we know the
outcome of our applications.”
Meanwhile, at the event,
Minister Gigaba said: “Africa
is the future and the future is
in Africa. We must therefore
make deliberate attempts to
integrate ourselves into the
African continent in terms of
our business activities. The
event’s theme ‘Under African
skies. Aviation in focus’ is
core to SAA’s future,” he said.
He added that the South
African public could expect
to see more collaboration
between the three airlines
– SAA, SAX, and Mango, the
brands appearing side by side
– in the near future.
Beijing
The Minister also revealed
that SAA had been successful
in securing a more favourable
time slot on its Beijing service
and this would help in turning
around the profitability of the
route.
SAA had not responded to
TNW’s request for details on
the new landing slot at the
time of going to print.
