South African Airways (SAA) is revamping its schedule with new direct services to New York and more seats on routes into Africa. “Effective May 01 2011, we will offer our customers the convenience of flying non-stop between Johannesburg and New York. Our non-stop flights to New York will allow a full day in Johannesburg with an early morning arrival in New York.
“Further, the reduced travel time result in fast and efficient connections to several key US destinations such as Boston, Chicago, Florida, California, as well as Canada and the Caribbean,” says Theunis Potgieter, SAA’s Commercial General Manager.
The non-stop flight from Johannesburg to New York (SA203) will depart OR Tambo International Airport daily at 20h35 arriving John F. Kennedy International Airport at 6h40, whilst the non-stop flights from New York (SA204) will depart daily at 11h15 arriving in OR Tambo International Airport at 8h40.
“SAA now offers the fastest and most comfortable way to commute between Southern Africa and this major global hub.
Travelers originating from other domestic points and Southern African countries like Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Angola, and Zambia and as far north as Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, can now be in New York with a single, quick connection via Johannesburg”, says Potgieter.
SAA will utilize the Airbus 340-600 on this ultra long haul operation. Also due to increased demand for services in Africa, SAA will also introduce the wide-body Airbus 340 on flights to Kenya and Namibia.
From February 27 the airline will operate a wide-body aircraft between Johannesburg and Nairobi, and up its frequencies to daily flights, offering an extra 600 seats per week. From the end of March, the airline will also introduce wide-body services between Johannesburg and Windhoek on 7 of its 20 weekly services.
“Our customers traveling to and from both Nairobi and Windhoek on the new wide bodied aircraft will now enjoy, amongst other world class features, a lie-flat seat and more space in business class, more space in economy class, preferential flight schedules and a host of other value added benefits; consistent with that which our customers have come to expect from us as the national carrier,” says Potgieter.
From the end of March, SAA will also increase the frequency of its flights to Entebbe, Uganda, from six per week to daily flights with the introduction of a new Tuesday service. The airline will also add an 18th weekly service to Harare, Zimbabwe, with an additional flight on Tuesdays. In the domestic market, SAA will increase the seats available on the Johannesburg to Cape Town route by operating an additional scheduled flight on a wide body aircraft.
