South African Airways launches direct flights between Johannesburg and Guangzhou, China

Introduction of Guangzhou, first new route since SAA implements turnaround strategy

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, 2019-May-07 — /Travel PR News/ — South African Airways (SAA), one of the leading carriers on the African continent, will launch direct flights between Johannesburg and Guangzhou, China, on 18 September 2019, giving customers access to the heart of China’s export led manufacturing industries.

This is yet another strategy implementation initiative aimed at enhancing SAA’s route network.

“The decision to launch this direct service between Johannesburg and Guangzhou means we remain on track in executing our strategy to transform SAA into a fit for the future airline that will operate both efficiently and competitively,” said SAA CEO, Vuyani Jarana.

The Guangzhou route will cater for a spectrum of travellers between Johannesburg and China including business and corporate travellers and will be of special interest to traders. Cargo operations will complement the viability of this route considering that high value cargo is sourced from Guangzhou.

SAA will be the only carrier operating a direct service between Johannesburg and Guangzhou, with flight time of approximately 13 hours and 40 minutes, providing the shortest travel time on a nonstop basis between the two points.

There will be three new flights per week to Guangzhou, in South China, and these will complement SAA’s current operations to Hong Kong. This means, SAA will fly four times a week to Hong Kong.  Airbus A340-300 aircraft will operate both the Guangzhou and Hong Kong routes.

Guangzhou is the largest city in the Guangdong province in South China and the third largest Chinese city after Beijing and Shanghai. It is an important transportation hub and trading port, located on the Pearl River about 120km Northwest of Hong Kong.

“Adding a direct service to mainland China, combined with our current popular flights to Hong Kong provides SAA with immense growth opportunities to and from mainland China. It also gives our traders access to the centre of Chinese manufacturing,” said Jarana.

The province of Guangdong is the centre of China’s export led manufacturing industries and described as “the world’s manufacturing hub”. Formal and informal traders source the majority of goods purchased in Sub-Saharan Africa from the province, due to Africa’s poor manufacturing capacity.

For more travel options for SAA customers flying to and from Guangzhou, the airline has interline agreements with China Southern Airlines, China Eastern, Air China and Hainan Airlines. To complement this initiative Guangzhou city has an extensive fast train network connecting the hub with important cities in China within 1-3 hours of SAA’s arrival and departure time. The newly opened 45 minutes’ fast train line between Guangzhou and Hong Kong provides alternatives to our customers to use both SAA’s Hong Kong and Guangzhou services.

SAA is also negotiating a code share agreement with Hong Kong Airlines, anticipated to be in place this financial year, for further travel options for customers travelling beyond Hong Kong. Hong Kong airlines will codeshare on SAA’s Hong Kong-Johannesburg sector and provide feeder traffic from Japan, Korea, Philippines and China.

The planned schedule, which will be published on Monday, 06 May, aims to offer morning arrivals in Johannesburg, seamless connection with SAA’s regional network with less than three hours lay-over in Johannesburg. The afternoon arrival flight in Guangzhou will connect to more than twenty cities in China and these include SHANGHAI, BEIJING, FUZHOU, XIAMEN, NANNING, KUNMING, HAIKOU, QINGDAO, NANCHANG, WUHAO, and CHENGDU to mention the top ten within one to three hours of arrival time in Guangzhou. The inbound flights from Guangzhou will allow for connections with arriving flights from Japan and Korea that are an important market on days SAA will not be operating from Hong Kong.

“We are confident that the introduction of this route is based on sound commercial considerations and will not only benefit SAA but South Africa as a whole as China is the largest source market in Asia. It is also South Africa’s largest trading partner in the world,” concluded Jarana.

Customers based in China may contact SAA at any of the following offices:

• Guangzhou:     +86-10-65026789
• Shanghai:         +86-21-6362-1461
• Beijing:              +86-10-65026789
• Chengdu:          +86-28-85550998

These offices cover the most important geographic locations of Southern, Eastern, Northern and Western China.

Guangzhou Schedule:

SA288 Days 3,5,7 JNB 1925 CAN 1505+1

SA289 Days 1,4,6 CAN 2215 JNB 0530+1

Hong Kong Schedule:

SA286 Days 1,2,4,6 JNB 1645 HKG 1240

SA287 Days 2,3,5,7 HKG 2355 JNB 0705

Issued by SAA Group Corporate Affairs

About South African Airways:

South African Airways (SAA) is the leading carrier in Africa, serving 57 destinations, in partnership with SA Express, Airlink, and its low-cost carrier, Mango, within South Africa and across the continent, and nine intercontinental routes from its Johannesburg hub. It is a member of the largest international airline network, Star Alliance. SAA’s core business is the provision of passenger airline and cargo transport services together with related services, which are provided through SAA and its wholly owned subsidiaries: SAA Technical; Mango its low-cost carrier; and Air Chefs, the catering entity of SAA. SAA is the winner of the Best Airline Staff Service award in the Africa category; this shows that our customer-facing employees are our true brand ambassadors who made a difference to millions of travelling customers. SAA is one of six airlines globally certified as IEnvA Stage 2, the highest and most comprehensive level in terms of environmental regulatory compliance and governance thereto.

For media information, please contact:

SAA Spokesperson
Mr Tlali Tlali
Email: TlaliTlali@flysaa.com
Mobile: +27 (0)82 333-3880
Office: +27 (0)11 978-2298

Marketing Enquiries:
Head of Marketing
Mr Themba Khumalo
Office: +27 (0)11 978-5597
Mobile: +27 (0)81 555-2353
Email: ThembaKhumalo@flysaa.com

General Enquiries:
Switchboard: +27 (0)11 978-1000
Website: www.flysaa.com
Twitter (Primary): @flysaa – https://twitter.com/flysaa
Twitter (Customer Service): @flysaa_care – https://twitter.com/flysaa_care
Facebook: www.facebook.com/flysaa

Source: South African Airways

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