SAA, in addition to launching its first direct service to the Chinese mainland this week, has added two more routes to its network in Africa. The one most likely to appeal to tourists is from Joburg to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, from which the flight continues to Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi.
I spent a few hours in Kigali years ago, not long after the civil war, to find it had apparently recovered completely, with citizens of the two previously hostile countries seeming to interact normally, and being friendly and welcoming to tourists. Kigali is surrounded by lush green mountains, and Theunis Potgieter, the airline’s general manager, describes it as the country's cultural and tourist transit hub.
SAA now flies there three times a week with an Airbus A319 carrying 120 passengers. And from now until March passengers will earn double Voyager points.
The flight from Joburg to Kigali is scheduled to take four hours and the add-on flight to Bujumbura another 40 minutes.
The airline is also offering double points until March on its other new route, to Pointe Noire, the economic capital of the Congo and a centre of the oil industry. SAA flies there twice a week, also with an Airbus A319 with 95 economy seats and 25 in business class.
Soaring on savings
Airlines are struggling against rising costs. Comair, which operates a full-service airline under a British Airways franchise and a low-cost one, kulula.com, warned recently that it would report its first loss for 60 years later this month.
But Erik Venter, the chief executive, tells me he expects it to be profitable again by the end of its financial year as a result of reorganisation, which includes encouraging pilots and other air crew to move from Joburg to Cape Town. He says many already want to do so and if a third move it will save the airline 80 percent on hotel bills for those who come off duty when it is too late to return to Joburg.
Other long-term savings plans mean heavy investment. Like many airlines it has ordered new-generation aircraft that use less fuel and cause less pollution. It will take delivery of the first of eight 737-800s this year, acquired directly from Boeing rather than leasing or buying second-hand.
Comair is also installing its own in-flight catering facilties in Joburg and Cape Town, instead of using a catering company, in the middle of this month.
Venter says other savings have been made by withdrawing from two unprofitable routes: Joburg to Gaborone and Joburg to Maputo.
Eastern promise
Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk was in Mumbai at the beginning of this week promoting SA as a holiday destination to the Indian travel trade.
Then he had to be in Beijing for the arrival of SAA’s first direct flight to the Chinese mainland, which left Joburg in the small hours of Tuesday morning. According to his staff he did it by flying from Mumbai to Hong Kong, where he changed to Dragonair, a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific Airways, for the flight to Beijing.
SAA chief executive Siza Mzimela said the flight to Beijing enabled SAA to offer “a seamless journey” from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Beijing via Joburg, making OR Tambo a hub connecting travel between the three continents. - Weekend Argus