By James Wilkinson
South African Airways is moving to daily Perth-Johannesburg flights from September 1, following increased demand from business and leisure travellers on the route.
SAA is set to fly Perth-Johannesburg daily
The additional flights means groups on incentive travel now have better connections to Africa than ever before, with South African also offering six flights per week from Sydney through its codeshare with Qantas.
“Despite the global recession, South African Airways has seen good returns with recreational, business and VFR traffic all maintaining strength,” said South African Airways’ head of Australian operations, Thevan Krishna.
“Having a daily flight from Perth will increase the range of options for our passengers and add capacity for the travel trade to take advantage of and meet increased demand.
“This means we will now have 13 weekly flights from Australia to South Africa (and) the changes to our timetable out of Perth in April have also resulted in much better connections to the rest of the African continent from Johannesburg with many more people choosing to travel to Europe, South America and the US via South Africa,” he said.
Krishna also said the airline’s interline agreement with Virgin Blue has also proven successful since its introduction.
“We are also seeing great results from our decision to introduce an interline agreement with Virgin Blue Australia which gives passengers more choices and travel options for their domestic travel,” he said.
The move from South African Airways could turn out to be impeccable in its timing. If Australia defeat or draw with Qatar on Saturday (June 6) in Doha, the Socceroos would become the first team to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, being held in South Africa during June and July next year.
“We’re delighted to be announcing this news and to welcoming many more Aussies on board SAA in the future, particularly as we see excitement building for the Football World Cup in 2010,” Thevan concluded.
The new flights depart Perth at 11:50pm on weekdays and 11:20am on Saturday and Sunday.
