After being grounded for almost 18 months, South African Airways (SAA) resumed its operations as of Thursday, September 23. The airline had to abandon its service due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it now looks to add some competitiveness to the sector.
According to SAA board chairperson John Lamola, their return will surely add more competitiveness as ticket prices increased since they have been in and out of business rescue, Business Tech reports. Lamola says at least three local flights will take off on Thursday between Johannesburg to Cape Town each way.
SAA 317 JNB – CPT took off this morning with 123 passengers on board ✈️. Thank You for your continued support. #FlySAA pic.twitter.com/94yiSNQSx7
— SAA – South Africa (@flysaa) September 23, 2021
#SAA takes off after not flying for over 500 days. Staff cheering on as the plane takes off. SAA will fly to CPT and other African countries as of a27 Sep. #eNCA pic.twitter.com/ZEI7iBDn3J
— Heidi Giokos (@HeidiGiokos) September 23, 2021
SAA’s regional service will also see daily return flights between Johannesburg and Harare in Zimbabwe, as well as three return flights a week to Accra in Ghana, Kinshasa in the DRC, Lusaka in Zambia and Maputo in Mozambique, The Citizen reports.
Also read: International flights into Cape Town starting to increase
Meanwhile, Cheapflights.co.za confirmed that they have noticed an increase in week-on-week searches for flights by about 134% for the long weekend coming up on Heritage Day.
The website also indicated that almost two-thirds of all searches have been made for domestic flights with about a 102% increase in searches compared to the week before the announcement, which shows the willingness of South Africans to travel locally.
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Picture: Twitter/@HeidiGiokos