, using 'South African' on their aircraft colour scheme, is
South Africa 's largest domestic and international airline company. With hubs in
Cape Town ,
Durban and
Johannesburg , South African Airways is one of the few profitable
African airlines. It is also known in
Afrikaans as '''Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens (SAL)''', although this version of the name no longer appears on the planes' livery. Besides
TAAG , South African Airways is the only other
African airline that flies to
Latin America .
jet.]]
In
1934 , an airline named
Union Airways was bought by South Africa's government, and renamed ''South African Airways'' on the
1 February . The first cities served were Cape Town,
Durban and Johannesburg. The following year, also on the 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 was able to enter the international market with flights to
Kenya and
Uganda . The slow growth continued during the
1940s .
In
1945 SAA achieved a longtime company goal by operating a route to
Europe when an
Avro York Bomber landed in
Bournemouth ,
England , after the long flight from
Palmietfontein .
The
1950s saw the advent of the jet age with the addition of the
Boeing 707 to the airline's fleet. SAA's first 707 landed in Europe in
October 1960 . Two years later, SAA's jets would allow the airline to fly nonstop for the first time ever from South Africa into the U.K. and SAA's other
European destinations. In
1971 , SAA added the
Boeing 747 'Jumbo Jet' to its fleet.
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 'Special Performance' Boeing 747 SPs, reducing the need for stopovers.
The only 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 , SAA began flights to
Taipei , South Africa being one of the few countries in the world to recognise the
Republic Of China government of
Taiwan .
jet. It has been repainted.]]
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
Canberra 's opposition to apartheid. On
November 27 of that year, tragedy struck the airline, when a 747, the ''Helderberg'' 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
Johannesburg International Airport .
With the demise of apartheid, beginning
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, nicknamed the ''Durban''. The airline resumed flights to
New York 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 .
1993 was the year
Manchester and
Hamburg entered the route system, and a code sharing agreement was reached with
Brazil 's
Varig .
In ,
Zulu ,
Afrikaans and
Sotho , while passengers on international flights were also greeted in the destination's local language.
In
1995 ,
Lufthansa started a code sharing agreement with SAA, and SAA commissioned
Herdbuois 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.
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. In addition to that, the airline started online ticket sales and formed an alliance with
SA Airlink and
SA Express .
In
1998 services to Buenos Aires and
São Paulo 's
Guarulhos Airport restored, services to
Copenhagen 's
Kastrup Airport stopped, and a new airline President in the figure of
Coleman Andrews .
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 737 s 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. 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 ordered nine A340-600 widebodies, six A340-300s, 11 A319s and 15 A320 aircraft. Three of the
A340-600 aircraft will come from International Lease Finance Corp. These new
Airbus aircraft are to replace the aging
Boeing fleet, as well as the recently ordered
Boeing 737-800's , over a period of 8 to 9 years.
In late
2002 , South African Airways made a successful bid for a 49 per cent stake in
Air Tanzania . This is the first acquisition of a foreign airline for SAA.
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 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 September 2004, it was reported that due to disappointing financial results, SAA would be cancelling its order of 15 A320 aircraft.
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. This will be increased to a daily service by
2006 .
On April 10, 2006, SAA formally joined
Star Alliance . SAA began code-share service with
United Airlines .
SAA operates routes to
Sao Paulo ,
Atlanta ,
New York ,
Washington DC ,
London ,
Frankfurt ,
Paris ,
Zurich ,
Mumbai ,
Hong Kong and
Perth , linking itself up with partners. It also operates numerous local and regional routes.
The South African Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of January
2006 ):
The average age of South African Airways fleet is 7.1 years in April 2006.
