South African Airways increases flights to key destinations

South African Airways (SAA) has announced a significant increase in its flight frequencies to key African destinations, starting November 2024.

SAA will also increase its flights to Mauritius in December and to Perth in January next year.

Starting in November, SAA will operate 12 weekly flights to both Harare and Lusaka, up from the current 10 times a week to both destinations. Flights to Lagos and Accra will increase to four times a week, up from three weekly flights.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), SAA will enhance its presence by flying five times a week to Kinshasa.

Domestically, SAA will increase its flights to Gqeberha to three times a day.

John Lamola, SAA’s Interim CEO, highlighted that after a rapid route expansion since 2021, SAA aims to consolidate its position and strengthen its role in connecting Africa.

“South Africa has seen a promising travel recovery this year, with most visitors coming from other

parts of the African continent. Our strategic growth focuses on expanding routes based on demand and feasibility. We are also guided by our unique mandate as a national carrier, to ensure that we help grow South Africa’s economy. Air travel plays a key role in building our tourism and trade links across Africa, which benefits both South Africa and the continent as a whole,” Lamola said.

SAA is also poised to increase the frequency of its flights on its successful routes – Mauritius and Perth. The airline will begin flying twice daily to Mauritius from the beginning of December to coincide with peak holiday season. SAA will increase flights to Perth – a very popular destination for South Africans – to five times a week from 7 January 2025.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.