South African Airways has expanded its fleet with two Airbus A320 aircraft.
The delivery of two additional Airbus A320s takes SAA’s fleet to a total of 20 aircraft.
“These additional aircraft will enable SAA to continue fulfilling our promise to add seat capacity in both the domestic and regional market, and thereby contributing to the affordability of passenger air travel,” says interim CEO John Lamola.
ALSO READ: SAA brings iconic Olympic-themed aircraft back into service
SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS
The airline took delivery of two Airbus A320 aircraft, expanding South African Airways’ operational fleet to 20 aircraft.
The Johannesburg-based airline has a mixed fleet comprised mainly of various Airbus aircraft, as well as Boeing 737s on a wet lease from SunExpress.
The Turkish-German operator leases aircraft and crews to South African Airways during the European winter.
SCALING UP ROUTE NETWORK
South African Airways operates domestic, continental and intercontinental routes.
It has been re-establishing regional and intercontinental connections.
The airline’s wide-body jets include Airbus A330 and A340 jets. These are used for long-haul operations.
SAA serves two intercontinental destinations including Sao Paolo (from Johannesburg and Cape Town) and Perth (from Johannesburg).
The carrier has just relaunched flights to Dar es Salaam and is expanding frequency on routes including Harare, Lusaka, Lagos and Accra.
ALSO READ: Dar es Salaam: South African Airways opens another route
SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS FLEET EXPANSION
South African Airways plans to bring in another five aircraft this year. This will grow the airline’s fleet to 25 during the year.
This is significant growth, considering the airline’s fleet when it resumed service in September 2001.
FlightGlobal reports that the carrier had just six aircraft when the business rescue process ended three and a half years ago.
The two A320s (introduced in the past two weeks) are being leased from Irish-based lessor AerCap.
