South African Airways

South African Airways (SAA), using 'South African' on their aircraft livery, 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.

History

Humble Beginnings

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 Jet Age

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.

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 '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.

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 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.

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, 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 1994, South African became a 25 percent owner of a company named Sax, and a feeder service (SA Express) began flying domestically. This year saw the birth of the airline Alliance, which was a partnership between SAA, Uganda Airways 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 currently 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. 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 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. 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. Service was increased to a daily service in July 2006, and the 747-400 was replaced by an Airbus A340-600. Also, because SAA could not 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.

On June 6th, 2006, South African Airways' codeshare alliance with the American airliner, Delta Air Lines, was terminated. South African's participation in the Star Alliance caused tension between the airlines as it is a major competetor 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 a airline partner of Skywards, the frequent flyer program for Emirates and Sri Lankan Airlines. Skywards members can earn miles for flying South African and can reedem miles for free flights.

Destinations

SAA operates routes to São Paulo, New York City, Washington, D.C., London, Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Perth, linking itself up with partners. It also operates numerous local and regional routes.

Fleet

The South African Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of June 2006):

The average age of South African Airways fleet is 7.1 years in April 2006.

Incidents

South African Airways Flight 295

On 28 November 1987, South African Flight 295, a Boeing B-747-244B Combi the Helderberg crashed over the Indian Ocean. It was en-route from Taipei, Taiwan to Johannesburg via Mauritius. This followed after a a fire in the main cargo hold; all 159 people on board were killed.

South African Airways Flight 322

On 17 June 2006 South African Flight 322, a Boeing 737-800 underwent an attempted hijacking by a 21-year-old Zimbabwean, who took an air hostess hostage in attempt to enter the aircraft's cockpit and divert the plane to Maputo, Mozambique. He was subdued before entering the cockpit on the flight en-route from Cape Town to Johannesburg, the pilots of SAA Flight 322 had been monitoring the incident via CCTV and the plane was turned back to Cape Town where a police task force stormed the aircraft and arrested the suspect. South African Airways feel that this incident has proven that their security on board is adequate and capable of handling such unexpected occurrences and that they are well prepared for handling any incidents which may occur during the World Cup 2010.

External links

Airlines of South Africa | Asia Miles

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