SAA has applied for licences
to operate scheduled flights
to Guangzhou, China, and
Addu City, Maldives, as well as
flights to Serbia, Sudan, and
Ukraine.
The applications are for
flights from OR Tambo
International Airport, Cape
Town International Airport
and King Shaka International
Airport.
According to Tlali Tlali,
SAA spokesperson, the
applications were primarily
aimed at addressing
enhancements to the airline’s
existing codeshares. “They
were not requested with the
intention for SAA to commence
operating in those markets or
destinations.”
However, the direct flights to
Guangzhou could be operated
by SAA.
Tlali says: “In order to be
able to serve any destination
in a specific country one
has to hold the underlying
traffic rights for the number
of weekly frequencies that
it wants to operate to the
specific destination. Should
the intention be to only offer
codeshare services, only one
weekly frequency is required.”
The application made in
September last year is for
four weekly return flights to
Guangzhou; and daily return
flights to Addu City. The other
applications are for one return
flight to Belgrade in Serbia,
Khartoum in Sudan and Kiev
in Ukraine.
SAA has also applied for
codeshares on flights to
Aracaju and João Pessoa in
Brazil as well as Kisumu and
Mombasa in Kenya.
Tlali explains that if an airline
already holds the underlying
traffic rights for a destination
in a specific country, only a
codeshare licence for the
“new” destination is required.
He confirms that the
codeshares on these routes
would be with Latam and
Kenya Airways respectively
and adds that SAA will provide
further updates in due course.
Kumedie Naicker, manager
at Sure Epcot Travel, says
direct flights to Guangzhou
are needed, adding that
there are not many attractive
connections.
She says clients travelling
to Guangzhou would usually
connect via Singapore or Hong
Kong, or via the Gulf, because
there are no direct flights.
Yishan Chiem, of Cyrildene
Travel Agency, agrees
that there is significant
demand for direct flights
to Guangzhou. She adds
that since SAA’s flights to
Hong Kong changed from a
17h20 departure to a 23h20
departure, the flights do not
have convenient connections
in China, so that transiting
passengers often have to
spend a night in Hong Kong.
Because SAA does not fly to
Beijing and Air China’s thriceweekly service to Beijing is
via Shenzhen, the flight time
is 17-18 hours to Beijing,
Kumedie adds. SAA’s flight
was about 15 hours
She adds that Air China is
difficult to get hold of and
agents have to go through
another agent to purchase
fares.
