October 31 marked a major milestone for SAA as our national carrier took to the skies with its first intercontinental flight since it resumed operations in September 2021.
The inaugural flight from Cape Town to Sao Paulo left CPT on Tuesday, October 31 at 12h55. The second intercontinental route, between Johannesburg and Sao Paulo will commence on Monday, November 6.
The flights from CPT will fly on Tuesdays and Saturdays, while the JNB flights are scheduled for Mondays and Thursdays.
With more than 9 000 commercial flights since its relaunch in 2021, SAA has demonstrated its ability to play an important role in connecting the country to economic opportunity.
“The choice of Brazil as our first intercontinental route was informed not only by rigorous economic and market analysis, but also by considerations of the strategic linkages of South Africa in the context of the country’s membership of BRICS,” said SAA interim CEO, Prof John Lamola.
The Brazil route is expected to strengthen existing trade ties between the two countries. SAA also revealed that it would operate a wide body fleet on the routes with sufficient space to load palletised cargo and provide faster movement of goods, whether it is general cargo, pharmaceuticals, or high value cargo.
By March 2024, SAA expects to be fielding a fleet of 13 aircraft, including two leased A320s it has just taken into the fleet.
“A fully functional and efficient national airline is critical for bolstering South Africa’s trade relations and opening up future growth prospects,” said Lamola.
