Everything about South African Airways totally explained
South African Airways (SAA) is
South Africa's largest domestic and
international airline company, with hubs in
Cape Town and
Johannesburg. It is also known in
Afrikaans as
Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens (SAL), although this version of the name no longer appears on the airline's livery.
History
Formation
In
1934,
Union Airways was bought by South Africa's government, and renamed
South African Airways on
1 February. The first cities served were
Cape Town,
Durban and
Johannesburg. The following year, also on 1 February, South African Airways took over South-West African Airways which had since
1932 been providing a weekly air-mail service between
Windhoek and
Kimberley.
In the
1930s SAA entered the international market with flights to
Kenya and
Uganda at
British East Africa. The main aircraft of SAA in the 1930s was the famous Junkers JU-52, affectionately known as Tante-Ju. Eleven of these flew for SAA. Other types used in the 1930s included eighteen Junkers JU-86's, which served from 1937 onwards, as well as four Airspeed "Envoy" light twin airliners.
The slow growth continued during the
1940s, though the airline was effectively closed for the duration of WWII. In 1944 SAA began operating the Lockheed Lodestar to restart domestic services and by 1948 SAA was operating nineteen examples. These were withdrawn in 1955.
On November 10
1945 SAA achieved a longtime company goal by operating a route to
Europe when an
Avro York landed in
Bournemouth,
England, after the long flight from
Palmietfontein near Johannesburg. These were replaced by the DC-4 "Skymaster"'s from 1946 onwards, which in turn was replaced by the Lockheed Constellation on international routes in 1950. Also of note in the post war era was the DC-3 Dakota, of which eight served with SAA, the last example being withdrawn as late as 1970.
The jet age
The
1950s saw the advent of the jet age with the addition of the
Boeing 707 to the airline's fleet. In
1953 SAA made aviation history when it became the first airline outside UK to operate the world's first pure jetliner, the
De Havilland Comet, on lease from
BOAC. In November of
1957 the "Wallaby" service to
Perth,
Australia was added. SAA's first 707 landed in Europe in October
1960 with a nine-hour flight to
Athens. Two years later, SAA's jets would allow the airline to fly nonstop from South Africa into the UK and SAA's other
European destinations.
Johannesburg-
New York route, via
Rio de Janeiro, opened on February of
1969. Later in
1971, SAA added the
Boeing 747-200 'Jumbo Jet' to its fleet, followed in
1976 by the long range
747-SP and the
Airbus A300, and in
1983 by the
747-300 EUD, which provided first non-stop flights between Johannesburg and
London that same year.
Effect of apartheid
The next few years would be marked by steady but slower growth. Many countries refused to trade economically with South Africa, and this affected the airline. While many airlines were growing fast on the international market, SAA's growth rate was far behind most. Many African countries, except South Africa's neighbours, refused to let SAA use their airspace, but by then SAA had acquired a fleet of six 'Special Performance' Boeing 747 SPs, reducing the need for stopovers.
A major development for the airline during the
1970s was the opening of a route to
Asia, with
Boeing 747 flights to
Hong Kong being launched. In
1980, when SAA began flights to
Taipei, South Africa became one of the few countries in the world at that time to recognize the government of
Republic of China in
Taiwan.
Fiftieth anniversary
SAA celebrated its 50th anniversary in
1984. In this year the South African government made a controversial decision when it signed a treaty with
Somalia to give extensive military aid to the repressive regime of
Siad Barre in exchange for an exclusive contract to service Somali air travel. This turned out to be economically nonviable since few Somalis could afford airline tickets, and due to the incessant civil disorder in the country, few people wanted to go to Somalia.
SAA's services to
South America were cut back in
1985 because of lack of demand, with services to
Buenos Aires stopped, but those to
Rio de Janeiro continued.
Due to international condemnation of the
apartheid regime in the late 1980s, SAA itself faced hostility, with its offices being attacked. Its
London office was daubed with red paint, while in
Harare,
Zimbabwe its offices were badly damaged after protesters went on the rampage. In
1987, SAA's services to
Perth and
Sydney in
Australia were ended, in light of Australia's opposition to apartheid. On
November 28 of that year, disaster struck the airline, when a 747, the
Helderberg (
South African Airways flight 295) flying from
Taipei to
Johannesburg crashed into the
Indian Ocean, near
Mauritius, killing all passengers and crew.
During that year, the South African Airways Museum opened its doors to the public at
OR Tambo International Airport, which was then known as Jan Smuts International Airport (Johannesburg International Airport was renamed the OR Tambo International Airport in 2006.)
End of the 'pariah airline'
With the demise of apartheid, beginning in
1990, SAA was able to shake off its
pariah image, restoring services to old destinations, introducing services to new ones and expanding into the rest of
Africa, and into
Asia. June 1 of
1990 was also an important day for SAA, as South African companies signed a domestic air travel deregulation act. Later that year, SAA was chosen as the
Best Airline to Africa by
London magazine
Executive Travel.
1991 saw the arrival of SAA's first Airbus
A320 jet, and its first Boeing 747-400 jet, named
Durban. The airline resumed flights to
New York City's JFK International Airport for the first time since the
United States imposed economic sanctions on South Africa in
1986, and South African's planes were able to fly for the first time over
Egypt and
Sudan.
1992 saw South African enter the
Miami market (from Cape Town) by flying into
Miami International Airport, and re-enter
Australia. This year also saw code sharing agreements with
American Airlines and
Air Tanzania. That year also saw direct flights to
Southeast Asia including
Bangkok and
Singapore.
In
1993 the airline began services to
Manchester and
Hamburg, and a code sharing agreement was reached with
Brazil's
Varig.
In
1994, a feeder service (
SA Express) began flying domestically. This year saw the birth of the airline Alliance, which was a partnership between SAA,
Uganda Airlines and
Air Tanzania. Also South African greeted its passengers in four different languages during domestic flights:
English,
Zulu,
Afrikaans and
Sotho, while passengers on international flights were also greeted in the destination's local language. Nevertheless, this "Alliance" withered against intense competition from Kenya Airways (& affiliated Precision Air). The Tanzanian government is subsidising Air Tanzania while it disentagles the relationship with SAA.
In
1995,
Lufthansa started a code sharing agreement with SAA, and SAA commissioned
Herdbuoys Diefenbach Elkins to lead South African's change of image. This year, South African's Voyager and
American Airlines' AAdvantage frequent flier clubs joined together.
1996 saw flights to
Singapore discontinued, with
Bangkok becoming an
Asian hub for the airline, and South African
Olympic athletes were carried to
Atlanta aboard 747
Ndizani. SAA won Executive Travel's best airline to Africa award for the third time.
Rebranding
In
1997, SAA introduced its new image and livery, dropping the
springbok emblem, and the old national colours of orange, white and blue. The new livery was based upon the new national flag, with a sun. The airline's name on its aircraft was changed to simply 'South African', with the
Afrikaans name
Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens being dropped. The airline started online ticket sales and formed an alliance with
SA Airlink and
SA Express.
As a symbol of the new rainbow nation, one of SAA's 747-300's, named Ndizani was painted in bright colours and could frequently be seen at various international airports. Now that Ndizani has been withdrawn from service, there have been calls to paint another SAA aircraft in these striking colours.
In
1998 services to Buenos Aires and
São Paulo's
Guarulhos Airport restored, services to
Copenhagen Airport stopped, and a new airline President in the figure of
Coleman Andrews. The arrival of the very well paid (in South African terms) Mr Andrews saw a very comprehensive and somewhat controversial overhaul of the airline by the American CEO, shaking up the way the airline was run. Mr Andrews was brought in by Transnet, (a government company that owns SAA) to remedy the problems of deserting customers, which Transnet's own market research had revealed was caused by 'failure to fly on time, unfriendly and minimally trained staff, poor food and SAA fares being 12- 25% above its competitors'. This era at SAA is covered in the book JETLAG, SA Airways in the Andrews Era, by South African journalist Denis Beckett.
In
1999 South African and
Delta Air Lines started code sharing on flights from Atlanta to South Africa. Those flights took place on South African Airways planes.
2000 saw South African arrive at
Ft. Lauderdale's
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and order 21 more
Boeing 737s for its domestic routes.
In
2001, South African won the
Best Cargo Airline to Africa award from
Air Cargo News - (even though South African is mostly a passenger airline) - and South African Airways signed a code sharing agreement with
Nigeria Airways, to provide service from the
United States to
Lagos, using South African 747s. (This code share agreement is no longer in effect, and SAA's flights to/from the United States no longer stop in Nigeria.) The airline earned a spot on the
Zagat Survey's top ten international airlines list, opened a new website and named
Andre Viljoen as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
In March
2002, under CEO Andre Viljoen, South African Airways asked
Airbus Industrie to overhaul its fleet at a cost of $3.5 billion. SAA took advantage of a slump in the order books of the aircraft manufacturers (Boeing and Airbus). The entire airline industry was still staggering, after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in the USA, which lead to new airplane orders either, being deferred or cancelled altogether. SAA was in a buyers market and with the demise of Swissair, which had A340-600’s about to be delivered, made a huge impact on Airbus clinching the SAA deal. Some people may argue that the SAA fleet renewal, with the replacement of some Boeing products with Airbus products, might have been partly a political decision, with Boeing selling planes to South African Airways during the Apartheid-era. However, there's no concrete evidence to substantiate this claim.
In
2002 SAA ordered nine A340-600 widebodies, six A340-300s, 11 A319s and 15 A320 aircraft. Three of the
A340-600 aircraft came from International Lease Finance Corp. The new
Airbus A319s replaced the ageing
Boeing 737-200 fleet, but the
Boeing 737-800's continue in service, because SAA cancelled the A320 order before any aircraft were delivered.
In late
2002, South African Airways made a successful bid for a 49 per cent stake in
Air Tanzania. This was SAA's first acquisition of a foreign airline. The merger failed in 2006 when new SAA management felt that the arrangement was an unprofitable mistake made by previous SAA managers.
In March
2004 South African Airways announced its application to join
Star Alliance. The alliance accepted the application in June, with SAA joining as a full member in April 2006.
In July 2004, Andre Viljoen resigned as CEO of SAA, the media speculated he resigned due to the heavy losses SAA suffered in a R6-billion hedging loss.
In
2005, it became the first non-Saudi airline to fly a direct
Hadj service to
Medina in
Saudi Arabia.
In July 2005, SAA started 4 times weekly
Johannesburg-
Accra-
Washington, D.C. service with a Boeing 747-400. Service was increased to a daily service in July
2006, and the 747-400 was replaced by an Airbus A340-600. Also, because SAA couldn't obtain rights to fly passengers between Ghana and the US, the stop in Accra was replaced with a stop in
Dakar.
Accra will remain an SAA destination, however. In 2007, SAA retired the last of its 747-400 fleet from active SAA service.
On June 6th, 2006, South African Airways' codeshare alliance with the US Airline,
Delta Air Lines, was terminated. South African's participation in the
Star Alliance caused tension between the airlines as it's a major competitor of Delta's
SkyTeam Alliance.
Alliance
On April 10, 2006, SAA formally joined
Star Alliance. SAA began code-share service with
United Airlines.
South African Airways is an airline partner of
Skywards, the frequent flyer program for
Emirates Airline and
Sri Lankan Airlines. Skywards members can earn miles for flying South African and can redeem miles for free flights. The airline also has a partnership with
El Al Israel Airlines.
Destinations
SAA operates intercontinental routes to
São Paulo,
New York City,
Washington, D.C.,
London,
Frankfurt,
Munich,
Mumbai,
Hong Kong and
Perth. Most international and intercontinental flights operate from
Johannesburg. The only intercontinental routes from
Cape Town are to
London and
Frankfurt. SAA also operates numerous domestic and regional routes.
Cargo
South African Cargo is the airlines freight branch they operate cargo services with a 737-200F to domestic and regional destinations.
Fleet
Passenger
The South African Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft as of November 2007:
South African Airways Fleet>
| Aircraft |
Total |
Passengers
(Business/Economy) |
Routes |
Notes |
| Airbus A319-100 |
11 |
120 (25/95) |
Short-medium haul
Domestic and Regional |
|
| Airbus A340-200 |
6 |
250 (24/226) |
Long haul
Australia, Europe, India
and South America |
Largest operator of the model. |
| Airbus A340-300 |
6 |
253 (38/215) |
Long haul
Australia, Europe,
North America and South America |
|
| Airbus A340-600 |
9 |
317 (42/275) |
Ultra long haul
North America and South East Asia, and Europe |
|
| Boeing 737-800 |
17 |
157 (32/125) |
Short-medium haul
Domestic and Regional |
|
Cargo
South African Airways Cargo Fleet>
| Aircraft |
Total |
Capacity
(Weight) |
Routes |
Notes |
| Boeing 737-200F |
1 |
20 tons |
Short haul
Domestic and Regional |
|
| Boeing 737-300QC |
2 |
|
Short haul
Domestic and Regional |
Planned to add |
SAA used to name its aircraft (such as the
Boeing 707,
Boeing 727,
Boeing 737-200 and
Boeing 747) after geographical features in South Africa, such as rivers, cities, towns and mountain ranges. However, SAA aircraft are no longer named.
In 2006, two 747-400s, delivered in 1990 and 1991 (ZS-SAV "Durban" and ZS-SAW "Bloemfontein"), were sold to
Cathay Pacific Airways and converted to B747-400BCF or Boeing Converted Freighters. Cathay values these B747-444 as they've the same
Rolls-Royce RB211 engines as Cathay's passenger fleet, making maintenance much faster and cheaper than if the freighter used
General Electric or
Pratt & Whitney engines.
In June 2007, SAA confirmed earlier speculation that the airline's restructuring plan means there will be no new aircraft purchased for an unspecified time period. Additionally, the airline announced that SAA's six remaining
Boeing 747-400s will be pulled from the fleet
Lockheed L-18 Lodestar, ZS-AST 28 March 1941, Elands Bay, South Africa. All aboard killed on impact and/or post crash fire.
Lockheed L-18 Lodestar, ZS-ASW, 5 th January 1948. Aircraft overran runway at Palmietfontein after landing deep. Undercarriage ripped-off and hull damaged beyond repair. Light injuries to passengers but no fatalities.
Anti-competitive practices
On 5 June 2007, it was announced that SAA paid ZAR 55 million to the South African government's Competition Commission. The penalty was imposed because of anticompetitive behaviour such as price-fixing. This fine was in addition to a ZAR 45 million fine paid by SAA on 31 May 2006 as a penalty for SAA's attempts to prevent travel agents from dealing with rival air carriers.
Further Information
Get more info on 'South African Airways'.
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