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Tag: SAA

  • SAA begins flight into Accra

    SAA begins flight into Accra

    South African Airways (SAA) has  begun its inaugural flight between Accra, Ghana and Washington DC in North America.The airline disclosed this in a statement .

    In a statement, tthe airline said the new route has strengthened SAA’s presence in West Africa during the first flight  which departed the Kotoka International Airport in Accra last week.

    Besides announcing the new Accra-Washington route, SAA also announced that it has concluded a commercial cooperation agreement with Africa World Airlines (AWA), the Ghanaian domestic carrier which will offer customers further connections into West Africa.  With Accra-Washington added to its extensive African route network serving 24 countries on the continent.

    SAA offers customers the option of a second West African country linking air travel to North America.

    “Introducing more travel options on the African continent is a major development and achievement for the airline as part of our Long-Term Turnaround Strategy, which sets growth on the African continent as one of our key objectives.

    “Besides celebrating the inaugural flight between Accra and Washington, SAA has also concluded a Commercial Cooperation Agreement with Africa World Airlines (AWA) which is off a long-term strategic nature, offering customers more travel options within the West African region

    “SAA’s decision to route some of its North American bound flights to Ghana, is based on sound business principles as there is considerable demand for passengers wanting to fly between Ghana to the U.S.A. We anticipate that this route will add considerable opportunities for the growth of tourism and trade relations between Ghana and the United States of America,” said Mr Kendy Phohleli, SAA executive, Africa Hub Projects.

    “True to our promise of improving connectivity on the continent, the agreement with Africa World Airlines will offer SAA customers from Washington and Johannesburg seamless connectivity via Accra to other destinations in Ghana such as Kumasi, Takoradi, and Tamale as well as to Lagos, Nigeria. Forming a local partnership with a domestic airline was part of our plans of strengthening SAA’s presence in West Africa,” said  Phohleli.

     

     

  • SAA achieves IATA status

    South African Airways (SAA) has become one of only two global carriers (alongside Finnair) to achieve Stage 2 status of the IATA Environmental Assessment Programme (IEnvA); a comprehensive airline environmental management programme.

    IEnvA seeks to introduce sustainability standards for airlines to cover all areas of an airline’s operations including air quality and emissions, noise, fuel consumption and efficient operations, recycling, energy efficiency, sustainable procurement, biofuels and many more. SAA was also one of six airlines to participate in the initial phase, Stage 1, of the Programme in June 2013.

    IEnvA is a stringent environmental assessment programme based on recognised international environmental management systems such as ISO 14001. It was developed jointly by leading airlines and environmental consultants and SAA has been part of this process from its genesis and currently chairs the IEnvA Oversight Working Group.

  • SAA changes flight schedule

    South African Airways (SAA)  has  announced revolutionary changes to  SAA Voyager positioning it as the frequent flyer programme of choice on the African continent.

    The changes are in line with the airline’s Long-Term Turnaround Strategy (LTTS). SAA Voyager is a key element of the SAA Group’s customer value proposition and aligns with SAA’s Vision of Africa’s leading world-class airline.

    “In terms of the strategy, our key deliverables for the Voyager programme are non-negotiable. Immediate interventions were required to improve our customer value proposition to ensure customer retention in the highly competitive domestic, regional (Africa) and international market,” said Nico Bezuidenhout, SAA Acting Chief Executive.

    The programme changes which, for the most part, will come into effect on February 1, 2015, focus on our enhanced customer value proposition. “Our members have spoken, experts and analysts have commented, and we have listened,” said Suretha Cruse, SAA Executive Customer Loyalty at the launch event of the Re5 campaign.

    The Re5 campaign is anchored on five key programme changes. It has been designed to respond to Voyager members’ feedback; the objectives of the airline’s LTTS; and in alignment with SAA Voyager’s aspiration to become Africa’s leading world-class loyalty programme (SAA Voyager’s Vision).

  • Southern Sun, SAA sell Nigeria to South Africans

    Southern Sun, SAA sell Nigeria to South Africans

    Tsogo Sun, South Africa, owners of Southern Sun Ikoyi in partnership with South African Airways (SAA) recently organized a familiarization tour of Nigeria for top South African journalists from the print and electronic media. The three-day visit saw the journalists’ tour of some tourist attractions within the Lagos metropolis.

    Speaking on the tour and the reason for the packaging it, the Corporate Manager-Group Communications, Tsogo Sun, Priya Naidoo, said the reason for the tour to was to give the the journalists a first-hand experience of Nigeria and also sell Nigeria as a  destination to South Africans.

    She said: “What we wanted was for some South African journalists to come out and experience Nigeria and, of course, our hotel. So, in partnership with the South African Airways, we brought the mainstream media. They include: the Sunday Times which is the one of the largest circulating media from print perspective; the Business Day; the Financial Mail ; the New Age ; the Sawbona magazine, a SAA in-flight magazine. Really it is to showcase Nigeria. Also, our core purpose is to let South Africans know, when they come to Nigeria, we’ve got an amazing hotel, Southern Sun, Ikoyi, that is really the reason we are here.”

    The team arrived Nigeria last week’s Wednesday, and for three days, toured sites in Lagos.  Naidoo described Nigeria as a very exciting place far different from the story they hear from outside.

    Her words: “We experienced Nigeria, and it is really wonderful. We didn’t really see only the great parts of Nigeria, we also got to see the market…what is so wonderful is the Nigerian spirit. You have amazing traders. The entrepreneurial spirit of Nigerians is phenomenal.”

    Part of the reason for the trip, which was organized in collaboration with the South African Airways, was to correct some of the erroneous impressions some in South Africa have about Nigeria, according to Naidoo.

    She said: “The other reason that we are here is that we brought the largest radio station . John Robbie is our Breakfast Show host, and we brought his entire team to broadcast from Southern Sun Ikoyi. What was wonderful about that is he has a wide audience, people listen to him. He has the ability to change people’s mindsets.

    “When we initially arrived, we were all anxious because we did not really know what we would meet. We were so pleasantly surprised and he was also saying at this morning show how amazing it had been because he was so surprised by the Nigerian people. There were no safety issues; he just felt really great.

    “We live in Johannesburg, we suffer from the same safety concerns that you suffer in terms of perception. When people think of everything that is happening right now, you will think that it is unsafe to come to Nigeria, and we’ve just proved the fact that it is not true. Since we arrived in Nigeria, we’ve had an amazing trip, we’ve had an amazing welcome by the people of Nigeria. They’ve really been wonderful. Yet, we had perceived it was going to be dangerous, but it was not.”

    She also talked about some of the places visited: ”We went around on a boat cruise into the Atlantic. We saw shipping villages, ports and so on. We went to see the markets; we went to Balogun Market and another one. We were at Yellow Chillie Restaurant. We ate typical Nigerian food with goat meat, very spicy. It was really very pleasant and lovely.”