South African Airways

South African Airways
IATA code :	SA
ICAO code :	SAA
Call sign :	SPRINGBOK
Founding:	1934
Seat:	Kempton Park , South Africa
Turnstile :	Johannesburg Cape Town Durban
Home airport :	Johannesburg
Company form:	SOC Limited
IATA prefix code :	083
Management:	Zuks Ramasia (acting)
Number of employees:	9,273
Sales:	US $ 3.0 billion (2014)
Passenger volume:	7.0 million (2014)
Alliance :	Star Alliance
Frequent Flyer Program :	Voyager
Fleet size:	13
Aims:	National and international
Website:	www.flysaa.com

South African Airways , SAA for short - formerly also Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens - SAL in Afrikaans - is the largest national and international South African airline based in Kempton Park and based at OR Tambo Airport near Johannesburg . It is a member of the Star Alliance aviation alliance and cooperates with the regional companies Airlink and South African Express Airways .

From December 4, 2019 to July 28, 2020, the airline was under voluntary bankruptcy administration. The airline's cessation of business operations and the simultaneous establishment of a new state airline was confirmed on May 1, 2020. On July 14, 2020, 88 percent of the creditors agreed to rebuild SAA. For this more than 10 billion rand are invested and 1000 employees are taken over. On June 28, the state, as the owner, and the creditors agreed on a proper liquidation.

history

Foundation and first years

Douglas DC-4 in historical livery, formerly SAA / SAL, now South African Airways Museum Society

On August 26, 1929, Major Allister M. Miller, a South African fighter pilot and flying ace from World War I , founded Union Airways in Port Elizabeth . The new company began transporting passengers and cargo between Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg , Cape Town and Durban with five De Havilland Gipsy Moth aircraft .

In 1934, in order to avoid the financial collapse, the company was sold to the South African government on February 1, renamed South African Airways (SAA) and became South African Railways and Harbors (the former South African railway company - today Transnet Freight Rail ). The first destinations were Cape Town and Durban as well as Johannesburg. In the following year 1935, also on February 1, South African Airways took over South -West African Airways (SWAA), which had operated a weekly airmail service between Windhoek and Kimberley since 1932 .

With aircraft of the type Junkers F 13 , Junkers W 34 , 11 Junkers Ju 52 , 16 Junkers Ju 86 , 4 Airspeed Envoy and various Lockheed L-18s , numerous African destinations (including Kenya and Uganda ) were flown to until the Second World War . In November 1945 the first flight to London took place - the first "Springbok" service. Several SAA pilots take part in the Berlin Airlift in 1948 with some Avro York .

In the following years, the airline used aircraft of the type Douglas DC-3 , DC-4 , DC-6 , DC-7 as well as Lockheed Constellation and Super Constellation . During this time, a new color scheme was introduced in accordance with the national colors in white, dark blue and orange, with the aircraft receiving bilingual lettering in English South African Airways on the left and Afrikaans Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens on the right. In 1957, South African Airways opened the first "Wallaby Service" to Perth ( Australia ) with a Lockheed Constellation.

First jet aircraft

The first jet aircraft was the De Havilland Comet 1 , which was used on the Springbok route in 1953. SAA made history as the first airline outside of Great Britain to use the Comet. In 1954, a BOAC- leased Comet crashed over the Mediterranean on the way from Rome to Johannesburg. This year, SAA relocated all flight operations from Rand Airport in Germiston to the new nearby Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg (later Johannesburg International Airport ). In October 1960, South African Airways' first Boeing 707 landed in Europe after a nine-hour flight from Johannesburg to Athens . A short time later, the Australia route was extended to Sydney with the new four-engine aircraft . In 1962, the airline's Boeing 707 flew non-stop to the UK and other European destinations. Also in the 1960s, SAA received the first three-engine Boeing 727 for medium - haul routes. In 1969 the route to Rio de Janeiro ( Brazil ) was opened. In 1971 South African Airways got the first "Jumbo Jet" Boeing 747 . Boeing 737s and Airbus A300s were ordered to expand the regional markets, replacing the older types of aircraft (e.g. Vickers Viscount ).

Because on August 22, 1963 a number of African countries withdrew South African Airways' overflight rights for political reasons, the entire route had to be changed practically overnight. The new route led along the west coast of Africa across the Atlantic. That is why Las Palmas on Gran Canaria became the new stop for stopovers, and later also Ilha do Sal on Cape Verde . In order to still operate direct flights to Europe, the airline ordered additional Boeing 707 aircraft in 1964, for which the Constellations were sold. Also in 1971 the first special jumbo jet for ultra long haul, a Boeing 747-200 named Lebombo , went into service. On March 23, 1976, a Boeing 747-SP flew 16,595 km non-stop with passengers from Boeing Field in Seattle to Cape Town in 17 hours and 21 minutes ; an achievement that entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest non-stop flight and lasted for a long time. In the same year the first Airbus A300 Blesbok was put into service.

Decline during apartheid

Boeing 747-SP in the old paint scheme and SAL lettering approaching Zurich (1983)

The apartheid policy of the South African government led from 1977 to increasing political and economic isolation worldwide, which also affected South African Airways. The airline's growth was initially severely restricted and could not keep up with the international growth in air travel. In the 1970s, only a new route into the Asian region to Hong Kong could be included. In 1980, Taipei ( Taiwan ) was regularly flown to with Boeing 747s. In 1984 South African Airways celebrated its 50th anniversary. At this point in time 11,500 people were working for the SAA worldwide, the fleet consists of 41 machines, the route network covers 196,000 kilometers and 56 foreign offices outside South Africa.

In 1985 the airline had to stop its flights to Buenos Aires due to lack of demand, but continued to serve Rio de Janeiro . In the late 1980s, numerous South African Airways offices abroad were targeted by attacks to demonstrate against the South African government's continued apartheid policies. In 1987, South African Airways suspended its flight service to Perth and Sydney in Australia because the government there opposed South Africa's apartheid policy. On November 28, 1987, the airline suffered a tragic accident . A Boeing 747-244B Combi, the Helderberg , crashed in the Indian Ocean due to a fire in the hold on the flight from Taipei to Johannesburg near Mauritius , killing all passengers and crew members.

Resurgence

Boeing 747-300 in the newer version of the old paint scheme and SAL lettering on the right in the late 1980s

Airways Park , the headquarters of South African Airways in Kempton Park

In 1990 apartheid began to end and South African Airways flourished again. Offices were reopened, old destinations were flown again and the route network expanded to the rest of Africa and Asia. In 1991 the first Airbus A320 and the first Boeing 747-400 ( Durban ) were delivered to South African Airways. That year the airline also received an award for “Best Airline in Africa”. In 1992 the flight operations to Australia were resumed, but also to Miami , Bangkok and Singapore . A codeshare agreement was also signed with American Airlines and Air Tanzania that year. In 1993, Manchester and Hamburg were added as additional destinations . A codeshare agreement was also signed with Varig from Brazil . In 1994 the last sanctions were lifted and on board the domestic flights passengers were greeted in four languages ​​(English, isiZulu , Afrikaans and Sesotho ) and on international flights in the respective national language of the destination. In the same year, the airline Alliance was founded together with Uganda Airways and Air Tanzania . In 1995 a codeshare agreement was signed with Lufthansa . In 1996, Bangkok became South African Airways' central aviation hub in Asia.

In 1997 the SAA introduced a new image and a new color scheme for the aircraft and discarded the classic Springbok emblem and the old national colors orange, white, blue. The new color scheme is based on a white paint job with the new national flag on the rudder unit with a stylized sun. The name of the airline was changed on the aircraft by now reading South African on both sides and the old lettering on Afrikaans Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens or the abbreviation SAL on the left. The airline also started selling tickets over the internet and formed an alliance with SA Airlink and SA Express .

In 1998 Coleman Andrews became the airline's new president. In 1999, a codeshare agreement was also signed with Delta Air Lines for flights between Atlanta and South Africa. Partial privatization took place in the same year. In 2000, South African Airways first flew to Fort Lauderdale in Florida and ordered 21 more Boeing 737s for the domestic routes. In 2001, South African Airways was named the best cargo airline in Africa and signed a code share agreement with Nigeria Airways . In March 2002 the airline ordered nine A340-600s, six A340-300s, eleven A319-100s and 15 A320-200s from Airbus in order to renew its outdated Boeing fleet. Since the end of 2002, South African Airways has held a 49 percent stake in Air Tanzania, the first stake in a foreign airline. From this time on, SAA also flew to Milan-Malpensa with the Boeing 747SP , before they were decommissioned a few years later.

Star Alliance membership

In March 2004, the airline announced its intention to join the Star Alliance and applied for full membership. The Star Alliance decided to join the alliance at its conference in June 2005. Complete integration into the alliance took place within twelve months. On April 10, 2006, South African Airways officially became a member of the Star Alliance. From October 2006, Jürgen Schrempp was personally appointed to the company's Supervisory Board by Minister of State Alec Erwin.

Restructuring since 2007

Various restructurings were necessary in 2007. For the European strategy, this meant that South African Airways has since concentrated on flights to the major Star Alliance hubs in Frankfurt and Munich as well as to London Heathrow and Zurich.

In January 2013, South African Airways received government aid of around EUR 47 million to prevent the company from ceasing to operate. In autumn 2012 she received a guarantee of around 465 million euros.

In July 2014, South African Airways was one of the last airlines in the world to retire the last of its six Airbus A340-200s .

At the end of 2015, the airline's credit limit in the amount of 250 million rand (the equivalent of approx. 14 million euros) was canceled by the American Citigroup ; As a result, South African Airways was technically insolvent and since then has only been able to maintain flight operations with state help. Since South African Airways is a SOC, i. H. is a state owned company , the operational business is never endangered and bankruptcy is excluded. The police have now started investigations into alleged theft, fraud, corruption and espionage. As a result of the investigations, the company took action and immediately suspended those responsible, including those in higher positions.

In August 2017, SAA's insolvency was confirmed for the first time. Survival can only be guaranteed with subsidies of R 13 billion within three years. A new managing director was appointed on August 3, 2017. The reduction of the fleet by up to 20 percent was announced in September 2017. In the same month, the company received another emergency loan from the state.

In October 2018, SAA received an additional R5 billion in emergency aid from the government. In November 2019, massive austerity measures were announced, including through mass layoffs.

On December 4, 2019, the airline was placed under voluntary insolvency administration. Among other things, the insolvency administrators decided at the beginning of February 2020 to cancel numerous national and international routes as well as mass layoffs in order to reduce costs. An emergency aid of 3.5 billion rand from January 2020 is to be used up by early March 2020 ^{[out of date]} . In February 2020, the state set aside 16.4 billion rand for medium-term debt.

In March 2020, South African Airways temporarily suspended all flights due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the associated flight restrictions. The airline followed the recommendations of the South African government.

The financial situation of the ailing airline was additionally exacerbated by the corona crisis. South African Airways announced in April 2020 that it would lay off all employees and prepare for bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy since 2020

As part of the orderly liquidation of the airline announced in mid-July 2020 and the rebuilding of a new national airline, almost the entire fleet, ie all leased aircraft, was handed over in July.

By August 21, 2020, four proposals for the restructuring and restructuring of SAA had been confirmed by the state.

Destinations

Own flights

SAA flies from Johannesburg to many destinations in South Africa (from the end of February 2020 only Johannesburg and Cape Town) and in Africa.

In Europe , SAA serves London and Frankfurt am Main , and from 2007 to February 2020 also Munich . There are also flights to destinations in Asia , New York and Washington in North America and Perth in Australia. São Paolo (Brazil) is still on the flight schedule until February 2020 .

Code sharing

South African Airways has codeshare agreements with the following airlines ( Star Alliance members are marked with *):

Air India * Air New Zealand * Airlink * All Nippon Airways * Asiana Airlines * Avianca Brazil * delta

El Al Emirates Ethiopian Airlines * Etihad Airways JetBlue

Lufthansa * Malaysia Airlines Mango * Qantas SAS Scandinavian Airlines * Saudi Arabian Airlines

South African Express Airways * Singapore Airlines * Swiss * TAP Portugal * Thai Airways * United Airlines *

fleet

Airbus A319-100 of South African Airways

Airbus A340-300 of South African Airways

Boeing 737-8BG ZS-SJO from the subsidiary Mango

As of July 2020, the South African Airways fleet consists of 13 aircraft. 30 more machines were delivered in the course of the year as part of the restructuring, five more are to follow. The acquisition of six short-haul aircraft by February 2021 and 10 more by November 2021 is planned. In August 2020, the South African government published a tender for the acquisition of a new fleet. The aim is to resume flight operations in October 2020. Embraer , Airbus and Mitsubishi Aircraft were invited to submit a bid . The financing is unclear. The last two Airbus A350s were returned to Air Mauritius on August 20th .

Aircraft type	active	ordered	Remarks	Seats ( Premium / Economy )
Airbus A319-100	3
Airbus A330-300	1
Airbus A320-200	2		1 leased to the World Food Program	138 (24/114)
Airbus A340	7th
total	13	-

Incidents

• On October 15, 1951, a Douglas DC-3 / C-47A-1-DK of South African Airways ( aircraft registration number ZS-AVJ) flew on the way from Port Elizabeth to Durban against Mount Ingeli. All 17 occupants (four crew members and 13 passengers) were killed.
• On April 8, 1954 there was an initially puzzling loss of the De Havilland Comet 1 G-ALYY of the BOAC, chartered by South African Airways, near Stromboli , Italy. A good half an hour after taking off from Rome Ciampino Airport , the Comet 1 broke and crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea - all 21 people on board were killed. It was the third de Havilland Comet accident in a year under similar circumstances. The type certificate was then withdrawn. Extensive investigations revealed material fatigue due to the use of the pressurized cabin as the cause of the accident, a new finding at the time, and the aircraft type was redesigned.
• On March 13, 1967, a Vickers Viscount 818 (ZS-CVA) crashed into the Indian Ocean during the approach to East London Airport in bad weather . All 25 people on board died. The cause could not be clarified (see also South African Airways flight 406 ) .
• On April 20, 1968, a South African Airways (ZS-EUW) Boeing 707-344C crashed shortly after taking off from Windhoek-JG Strijdom Airport for Luanda . Of the 128 people on board, 123 died. The aircraft was not equipped with the flight recorders and voice recorders that were actually mandatory at the time, so that the aircraft accident investigation was difficult. The cause of the crash was ultimately attributed to pilot error (see also South African Airways Flight 228 ) .
• On November 28, 1987, on a flight from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan via Plaisance Airport in Mauritius to Johannesburg, a fire developed in the combi cargo hold of the Boeing 747-244B with the registration number ZS-SAS . The machine crashed in the Indian Ocean . All 159 occupants, including 19 crew members, died. The possible cause of the accident was already controversially discussed in the Margo Commission after the crash and was discussed again in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1998 . The presumption has so far not been clarified whether there were cargo in the cargo hold intended for military purposes, circumventing the embargo regulations at the time, which would have self-ignited during the flight (see also South African Airways flight 295 ) .
• On October 5, 1998, a Boeing 747 SP with the aircraft registration number ZS-SPF had to return to an emergency landing on the way to Lisbon after an engine fire while climbing from Maputo Airport in Mozambique . None of the 66 inmates, including 50 passengers, were harmed. However, the aircraft was badly damaged and had to be written off.

See also

• List of airlines
• Department of Public Enterprises

literature

• BI Hengi: Airlines Worldwide , 9th updated edition from 2018, Nara, ISBN 978-3-925671-69-2 , p. 289

Web links

Commons : South African Airways  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: South African Airways  travel guide

• South African Airways website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Factsheet SAA (Star Alliance) 2014 , accessed on January 8, 2015.
2. ^ 'New journey' ahead for restructured SAA, says Dept of Public Enterprises. Fin24, May 1, 2020.
3. ^ SAA rescue plan railroaded through. Tourism Update, July 14, 2020.
4. ^ SAA's business plan becomes operational. Tourism Update, July 28, 2020.
5. ↑ flysaa.com - Legal information , accessed July 19, 2013.
6. ↑ aerotelegraph.com - Another state aid for South African , accessed on January 18, 2013
7. ↑ ch-aviation - SAA phases out last A340-200, three commercial operators left (English) accessed on July 5, 2014
8. ↑ Stefan Eiselin: South African Airways is running out of money. In: aeroTELEGRAPH. January 14, 2016, accessed January 18, 2016 . 
9. ^ Stefan Eiselin: Government wants to keep South African Airways forever. In: aeroTELEGRAPH. May 25, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016 . 
10. ^ Treasury Keeps South African Airways Alive , accessed February 1, 2015
11. ^ Carin Smith: SAA suspends another exec. In: News24.com. November 20, 2015, accessed June 6, 2016 . 
12. ↑ News in the evening. Hitradio Namibia, August 3, 2017.
13. ↑ 8-point plan for new CEO to turn around SAA. Fin24, August 4, 2017.
14. ↑ SAA to cut fleet by almost 20% in the latest restructuring plan. ch-aviation, September 6, 2017.
15. ↑ South Africa supports SAA with emergency credit. aero.de, accessed on September 30, 2017
16. ^ New SA Finance Minister gives SAA and SA Express bailout. Tourism Update, October 24, 2018.
17. ↑ South African Airways cancels almost every fifth digit. AeroTelegraph, November 12, 2019.
18. ^ SAA to be put into business rescue. Tourism Update, December 4, 2019.
19. ^ SAA to scrap all domestic routes apart from Joburg, Cape Town. Fin24, February 6, 2020.
20. ^ Unions file urgent court application to block job cuts at SAA. Fin24, February 11, 2020.
21. ↑ Development Bank's R3.5bn bailout of SAA may be depleted by early March - Gordhan. Fin24, February 19, 2019.
22. ^ David Kaminski-Morrow: Government sets aside $ 1bn to cover SAA guaranteed debt. flightglobal.com of February 26, 2020 (English), accessed on February 27, 2020
23. ↑ South African suspends operations until mid-April. March 27, 2020, accessed March 27, 2020 . 
24. ^ South African Airways near collapse with plan to fire all staff. April 20, 2020, accessed April 20, 2020 (Australian English). 
25. ↑ South African Airways fires all employees. April 20, 2020, accessed April 20, 2020 . 
26. ↑ ^{a b} SAA fleet stripped to the bones. Tourism Update, July 21, 2020.
27. ↑ ^{a b} South African Airways attracts four investment proposals. ch-aviation, August 21, 2020.
28. ↑ flysaa.com - Destinations (English), accessed on February 6, 2020
29. ↑ flysaa.com - Code Share Partners , accessed September 12, 2014.
30. ↑ Pretoria issues SAA 2.0 fleeting RFP despite funding issues. ch-aviation, August 10, 2020.
31. ^ South African Airways' Remaining A350s Returned To Air Mauritius. In: simpleflying.com. August 20, 2020, accessed on August 21, 2020 . 
32. ↑ flysaa.com - aircraft data (English), accessed on June 24, 2017
33. ^ Accident report DC-3 ZS-AVJ , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 21, 2019.
34. ^ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium (English) part 59, December 1995, pp. 95/112.
35. ^ Accident report Comet 1 G-ALYY , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 22, 2017.
36. ↑ Accident report Viscount 800 ZS-CVA , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 30, 2019.
37. ^ Accident report B-707 ZS-EUW , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 30, 2019.
38. ^ Accident report B-747-200 ZS-SAS , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 30, 2019.
39. ^ Nelsonmandela.org - Special Investigation into the death of President Samora Machel
40. ↑ justice.gov.za - Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Special Hearing: Helderberg flight. June 1, 1998, Cape Town
41. ↑ airfleets.net - Accident information: Boeing 747 South African Airways ZS-SPF (English), accessed on July 20, 2010