Airlines Airline Portrait: South African Airways

The fascinating nature with national parks and wild animals makes South Africa to one of the most popular touristic destinations in the world. Since 1934 tourists and business travelers have been flying with the country’s flag carrier South African Airways.

South African Airways History

In 1934, South African Airways (SAA) was formed following the acquisition of Union Airways by the South African government. The airline took over a mixed fleet Junkers A50, F13 and de Havilland aircraft. From 1934 until the start of the second world war, SAA carried over 100.000 passengers and over 3.000 tons of airmail. In May 1940, SAA suspended operations. Four years later, the airline recommenced domestic operations with 28 Lockheed Lodestars. In November 1945, SAA introduced the Springbok service, its first inter-continental service. The flight took off from Palmietfontein, with stops in Nairobi, Khartoum, Cairo, Castel Benito and Bournemouth and took 34 hours.

In 1953, a SAA operated BOAC Comet took off from Johannesburg en-route to London, in the process becoming the first airline outside the UK to operate jet aircraft. In the following years, the airline opened new routes and began connecting South Africa with all continents. The Wallaby service, which provides a daily connection between Australia and Africa, was established in 1957. Due to a number of accidents involving Comet aircraft, the airline ordered three Boeing 707-320 in 1958 and took delivery of the first aircraft in 1960. With the new four-engine aircraft, the airline was able to offer a flight time of 13 hours for the Springbok route to the UK. Supported by modern aircraft, SAA was able to transport more than 1 million passengers for the first time in the financial year 1968/69.

The 1970s were characterized by new arriving jets: The Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet and the Airbus A300 entered into service! SAA welcomed its first Boeing 747B, ZS-SAN 'Lebombo' and Airbus 'Blesbok' at the same time. With a total of 12 Boeing 737s, three Boeing 747SPs and four Airbus A300s, SAA opened new domestic, regional and international routes. On March 23, 1976 an SAA Boeing 747SP (special performance) set a record for the longest non-stop commercial flight when it flew from Seattle to Cape Town, a distance of 16.560 km's covered in 17 hours and 22 minutes.

In the 1980s, SAA was affected by economic sanctions due to the Apartheid. The US Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 banned all flights by South-African-owned carriers. This forced SAA to cancel its flights to New York. Similar reasons forced SAA to stop all flights to the Australian destinations Sydney and Perth.

With the demise of Apartheid in 1990, SAA relaunched the former services to several destinations. In 1991, SAA took delivery of the first of eight ordered new-generation Boeing 747-400. Additionally, SAA introduced the first fly-by-wire aircraft: The Airbus A320 began operations in Johannesburg and Cape Town. On board domestic flights, SAA introduced multi-lingual greetings in English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans. On international flights, passengers were greeted in the relevant language of their destination.

Since 1994, South African Express operates domestic feeder flights on behalf of SAA. Two years later, South African Airlink joined feeder services for SAA. In 1996, SAA already operated a fleet of 48 aircraft connecting South Africa with 34 destinations in the world. In 1997, SAA replaced the former Springbok emblem and the former national colors of orange with a new livery in the colors of the new national flag.

In 2000, all former Airbus A300 and A320 were replaced by 21 Boeing 737-800. Two years later, SAA ordered Airbus A320 Family aircraft and long-haul A340 planes.

A milestone in the development of the South African carrier was the announcement of entering the Star Alliance in 2006. SAA was the first African carrier joining the 1997 founded alliance. Due to financial problems, SAA was forced to launch a comprehensive restructuring program one year after joining Star Alliance. The carrier was forced to ground the entire B747-400 fleet, cutting routes and staff.  In the following years, several CEO’s came and went. With Siza Mzimela, SAA appointed the first female CEO in 2010. The airline replaced all its re-introduced B747 with new Airbus A340-600 and added new Airbus A320 to the fleet. The historical and twenty-year old Cape Town-London route ended in 2012 due to declining passenger numbers.

Mzimela’s successor stated in 2015, that the only profitable long-haul flights are to Hong Kong, Munich, Frankfurt/Main and Perth. In order to reduce costs and return to profitable operations, SAA cut several routes and retired aircraft.

South African Airways today

The financial problems of SAA have not been resolved in the last years - SAA has not made profit since 2011. In 2017, SAA was forced to request additional financial support by the South African government. With a five-years plan, the current CEO Vuyani Jarana aims at reaching operations without financial losses until 2021. Additionally, the new management tries to find partner or investors to improve the financial situation. In July, media reported SAA has entered talks with the two Gulf carriers Etihad and Emirates about a potential partnership. SAA is facing heavy competition in all its business units: On the domestic market, SAA has to deal with the weak economic situation and competitors like the British Airways franchise Comair and its low cost subsidiary Kulula. On the long-haul market, Gulf carriers, European airlines and growing African carriers like Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways reduce SAA’s market power. A new restructuring plan, which includes another round of route cuttings and a review of the fleet policy, should improve the financial situation of SAA. As part of the new program, the companies low cost subsidiary Mango has taken over the majority of the domestic routes from its parent company.

Today, SAA operates an entire Airbus passenger fleet consisting of 44 aircraft. Additionally, three Boeing 737-300F are leased from Star Air Cargo for SAA Cargo operations. All aircraft are equipped in a two-class configuration with Business and Economy Class. The airline rating website Skytrax rated SAA with four stars, which is together with other airlines like Ethiopian Airlines or Royal Air Maroc the best ranking in Africa. SAA is one of the last airlines in the world operating flights with the Airbus A340-300 and A340-600. Other airlines have replaced the fuel-guzzling planes by more efficient two-engine aircraft. Both Airbus long-haul aircraft types are used on the international routes to Dubai, Frankfurt/Main, Hong Kong, London, Munich, New York, Perth Sao Paulo and Washington. The former use of the Airbus A340-600 on domestic routes has been stopped with the new enrolled restructuring plan.

SAA has signed codeshare agreements with over 25 airlines from all continents. Beside its Star Alliance partners like Lufthansa and United Airlines, the carrier cooperates with Emirates and Etihad Airways as a feeder on the domestic market.

South African Airways partners and subsidiaries

South African Airways does not operate all flights with own aircraft. The two airlines Airlink and South African Express offer flights on behalf of South African Airways.

Airlink was founded in 1992 and offered domestic flights. In 1997, Airlink joined South African Airways and South African Express Airways in a strategic alliance which is governed by a franchise agreement. According to its website, the carrier is the largest independent regional airline in Southern Africa connecting 39 destinations with a mixed fleet of 54 aircraft. Beside Avro RJ85 and Embraer 190, Airlink operates BAe Jetstream 41 and Embraer ERJ aircraft. It operates flights to domestic and international destinations in Southern Africa. The airline was the first to offer flights between the island of St. Helena and Johannesburg.

South African Express is another state-owned airline operating flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town. Beside domestic flights, South African Express offers flights to destinations in the neighboring states Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In Mai 2018, the South African Civil Aviation Authority grounded the airline due to serious safety risks. After months without flights, the carrier resumed commercial operations in late August 2018. The carrier operates a fleet of Bombardier CRJ 200, CRJ700 and Dash 8 Q400 as well as wet-leased Boeing 737-500 and Embraer EMB 120.

In 2006, the South African Airways Group launched its own low cost carrier named Mango. The airline, that was named the African low cost carrier of the year in 2008, operates a fleet of ten Boeing 737-800’s on several domestic routes and weekly flights to Zanzibar from Johannesburg. With the no-frills concept, South African Airways is able to offer lower prices on the competitive domestic market.