The South African flag carrier is in the midst of restructuring after being resurrected by its country’s government and gaining a new private partner, still during the pandemic.
Before Covid-19, the company had already been in financial difficulties, and the virus led to the cutting of most operations, including the flight to Brazil that it operated for 50 consecutive years.
Now South African Airways (SAA) wants to get ahead of Latam Airlines (which announced the return of the Johannesburg connection at the beginning of the year’s second half).
SAA said it would lease Airbus A330-300 jets, the same ones used by it on the route before the temporary closure, to reinstate flights to São Paulo and Perth (Australia).
According to the Swiss website Ch-aviation, the routes are expected to launch by March 31, but specific details were not disclosed.
A second stage of the international flight expansion would be carried out with the Airbus A350, briefly operated by the South African company before its temporary closure during the pandemic.
With Airbus’ latest jet, the idea is to fly to Frankfurt, London, Washington, and New York again.
Today South African Airways only flies within the African continent with Airbus A319, A320, A330-200, and A340-300 jets.
With information from AeroIn