With the recent relaunch of South African Airways, Emirates is reactivating their long-standing partnership with the airline to expand connectivity options in Africa. Initially, the agreement includes SAA coded and Emirates-operated routes between Dubai and South Africa.
On Wednesday (September 29, 2021), Emirates announced the reactivation of their long-standing commercial partnership with South African Airways (SAA), expanding customer options in Africa. SAA recently resumed operations with initial service to six African destinations. The agreement includes SAA coded and Emirates-operated flights between South Africa on a single ticket with seamless baggage transfer from October 1st, 2021. As SAA ramps up operations in the coming months, the partnership will be expanded to include more domestic and regional points in Africa. Emirates will also add more options for SAA customers to connect to select destinations on one itinerary.
In Wednesday’s announcement, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer, Adnan Kazim, said,
“The partnership between Emirates and South African Airways builds on our shared commitment to providing customers more schedule choices and increased connectivity across Africa and through our growing network. We value our nearly 25 years of successful partnership with SAA and we are working hard to take more positive steps forward to continue to grow our relationship and provide our customers with even more connectivity in the future.”
South African Airways’ Interim CEO, Thomas Kgokolo, added,
“We share the same vision of seamless, efficient, and excellent customer service with connectivity to multiple destinations. We are confident this partnership will lead to the addition of more route and destination options, particularly across Africa as we both recognise the economic, trade and tourism potential the continent has and our key role as enablers.”
Emirates’ partnership with SAA started in 1997, and over the last decade more than one million passengers have flown across the joint network of both airlines, which reached 110 destinations prior to the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Emirates