Flying direct to the Maldives, more frequent flights to Luanda, hosting Southern Africa’s airlines convention.
FLYING DIRECT TO THE MALDIVES
SAA is the first long-haul international carrier to fly to Gan International Airport situated at the southern tip of the Maldives. Island resorts are just a 10- to 15-minute boat ride from the airport.
THE FLIGHT
Eight round-trip flights are scheduled to depart between 24 November 2018 and 12 January 2019. Flights will depart Johannesburg on Saturdays at 11:30pm arriving in Gan at 8am the next day, making it ideal for honeymooners and holidaymakers.
AIRCRAFT
SAA will operate the flights with its own crew using Airbus wide-body aircraft featuring Business and Economy Class service.
DURATION
The seven-hour, non-stop flight leaves from OR Tambo International.
THE DESTINATION
With its unrivalled luxury, stunning white-sand beaches and an amazing underwater world, the Maldives is an obvious choice for a true holiday of a lifetime.
HOW TO BOOK
Starlight Holidays is the sole agency and holiday packages can be booked through them. Scheduled over the peak holiday season, these flights are expected to fill up fast. Bookings are already open, and rates and details are available on the Starlight website. STARLIGHT.CO.ZA OR CALL +27 (0)87 357-9133.
INCREASING OUR FLIGHTS TO LUANDA
Last month, we added two extra weekly flights to Luanda, Angola, bringing SAA’s total weekly operations between Johannesburg and Luanda to four flights per week.
WHY
We’re creating a seamless journey for customers travelling to various destinations on the SAA network, especially our African and Asian destinations. SAA has been operating to Luanda for more than 30 years, making it one of the leading airlines in Angola. The route is very popular with not only Angolans, but with most of the guests travelling to and from Luanda and then connecting on SAA’s route network to various destinations such as Sao Paulo, Hong Kong, NewYork,Washington DC and the entire Southern African Development Community. SAA operates to all the major cities such as Lusaka, Maputo,Windhoek, Harare, Mauritius, Lilongwe and Blantyre. Nairobi, Entebbe and Dar es Salaam also feature prominently on the travel itineraries of our guests on this route.
AIRCRAFT
Both narrow- and wide-body aircraft (A330-200, A330-300 and A320) operate on this route.The two additional weekly flights will employ two class configured A320 aircraft.
FOCUSING ON SERVICE EXCELLENCE
South African Airways hosts Airlines Association of Southern Africa’s (AASA) 48th annual general assembly in Livingstone, Zambia from 11–
14 October, and it will focus on customer service.
THE GOALS
“As an industry, we are concerned with closing those gaps between customers’ expectations and their experiences, hence the assembly’s theme:‘Enabling African Airline Service Excellence’,” says AASA’s CEO, Chris Zweigenthal.
“The African Union’s initiatives to establish the Single Africa Air Transport Market to complement the Africa Continental Free Trade Area requires political will and muscle; but it will be irrelevant unless travellers, importers
and exporters are provided with an end-to-end air transport system and user experience that is smooth, seamless, stress-free and affordable,” he adds.
WHO WILL BE THERE?
Around 300 delegates, from airline industry executives and government policymakers to Southern Africa’s airlines, airports, air navigation services, regulatory bodies as well as aircraft and engine manufacturers, ground- handling service providers and associated businesses.
AASA
The Airlines Association of Southern Africa is a non-profit industry body mandated to represent the common interests of its 19 member airlines in the Southern Africa Development Community region.
