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Tag: South African Airways

  • SAA Voyager unveils new mobile application

    South African Airways (SAA) Voyager has launched its own SAA Voyager Mobile Application.

    According to the airline, what this means is that the transactional experience for Voyager members is now in the palm of members’ hands with easy navigation whilst on the go.

    The current SAA Mobile App only displays a customer’s status and balance of miles, whereas the first release of the SAA Voyager App includes additional transactional functions beneficial to the customers namely: update of personal details, PIN reset, award requests, claiming of missing miles, converting miles and being able to donate miles.

    The SAA Voyager App is an intervention aimed at enhancing Voyager members’ transactional experience with Voyager in the short term and it is envisaged that once SAA re-launches its Mobile App in the latter part of this year, there will be integration between the SAA and SAA Voyager Mobile Apps, where customers will transact seamlessly with SAA, be it for check-in, printing of boarding passes, making and/or changing reservations or transacting on their Voyager accounts.

    SAA Executive for Customer Loyalty, Suretha Cruse, explains that one of SAA’s key strategies is to enhance the customer experience.

    “Customer insights were a key driver in the design and development of the SAA Voyager App with our Africa-based members in mind, where 80% access the internet via their mobile phones,” she said.

  • South African Airways begins J’burg to Abuja flight

    South African Airways begins J’burg to Abuja flight

    South African Airways (SAA) said it has introduced direct flights from Abuja to Johannesburg and vice-versa.

    The new flight schedule is expected to foster foreign policy and also accelerate trade relations between the two countries, the carrier explained.

    Speaking with reporters yesterday in Abuja, its Regional General Manager, Africa and Middle East, Aaron Munetsi, said its position as a leading carrier with about 56 destinations in its flight schedule, informed its flight operation  three times weekly non-stop between Johannesburg and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

    He said “Abuja flights have been scheduled for seamless connectivity into SAA’s inter-continental route network to destinations such as Perth, Hong Kong and Sao Paulo. With Abuja, SAA will be serving eight destinations in Central and West Africa with flights from its Johannesburg hub to Lagos, Abidjan, Cotonou, Accra, Douala, Dakar in Senegal and Libreville.

    “The three weekly flights will operate non-stop between Johannesburg and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja aboard modern Airbus 330-200s.”

    He added that SAA,  with over 80 years of its existence, it has  developing its footprint in the continent where  it takes Africa to the world and brings the world to Africa as its core mandate.

  • South African Airways strengthens presence in West Africa

    South African Airways (SAA)  has strengthened its position in West Africa, with the upcoming introduction of a second West African country linking air travel to North America.

    The acting chief executive officer of the airline , Nico Bezuidenhout disclosed this at the weekend.

    The SAA boss said :”Following months of SAA efforts and preparations and the successful negotiations between the governments of Ghana and South Africa, we are pleased that we can now fly our customers between Ghana and the United States of America from August 2015 onwards.

    “This is a major development and achievement for the airline as part of our long-term turnaround strategy where we have set growth on the African continent as one of our key objectives. With a strong presence in West Africa, in the form of nonstop services between Accra and Washington D.C. and through our airline partnerships our customers will soon have access to further destinations in West Africa,”

    “The granting of traffic rights by the Ghana government enables SAA to transport customers between Accra and Washington. As current supply is limited, forcing the majority of customers in Ghana to travel via Europe to reach North America, the SAA’s introduction of non-stop services from Ghana will considerably reduce travel times,” said Kendy Phohleli, SAA Executive Africa Hub Projects.

    Customers will also be able to experience 4-Star Skytrax rated airline service to North America, serving the West African community, a service, which offers world-class quality, product, and service standards, which has enabled SAA to be awarded a 4-Star rating by Skytrax for 13 consecutive years.

    Not only has SAA added Ghana as a second entry point in West Africa, the airline, has – true to its promise of improving inter-connectivity on the continent –  entered into a bi-lateral codeshare agreement with Africa World Airlines. This airline partnership 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.

    Africa World Airlines is the fastest growing airline in Ghana, which operates domestic and regional flights in West Africa and is based at Kotoka International Airport in Accra. The airline was recently awarded “Domestic Airline of the Year” in Ghana.

    From Washington SAA offers convenient connections to and from over 50 markets in the U.S. and Canada through its airline partners United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, and Virgin America.

  • 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.