South African Airlines, which was mostly closed during Covid years, is gradually reopening routes and rebuilding its route network.
Due to the very old fleet of Airbus aircraft, the state-run airlines initially resumed flights to continental destinations in 2021, but in October 2023 it began a route between Cape Town, Brazil and Sao Paulo.
A few days later, it both flew to the Brazilian city of Johannesburg on an Airbus A330 aircraft. In January 2024, it was time to debut a flight to Perth, Australia with a four-engine A340.
Currently, the airline wants to return to the US. The plan was revealed by South African CEO John Lamora in an interview during an event in Ghana, the airline nerd said.
Without naming the destination, Lamora said he plans to fly through Accra to American cities by the end of 2026.
South African Airlines served in New York and Washington until March 2020 when it halted flights amid the pandemic. Not long ago, the carrier was flying the route on a leased A350 wide body in a failed attempt to attract more demand.
However, the launch of new long-haul flights has been hampered by regulatory approvals and the expansion of the wide body fleet.
Currently, South African Airlines' fleet is only two A330-300s and two A340-300s in addition to the 13 A320 and two Boeing 737-800s.
