South African Airways details new A350 long-haul plans

South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) has long-term plans to reintroduce A350 operations to resume most long-haul routes it was flying before the Covid-19 pandemic, says interim chief commercial officer, Tebogo Tsimane. To start with, the state-owned airline plans to use its leased A330-300s to launch two long-haul routes – to Sao Paulo Guarulhos (Brazil) and Perth International (Australia) - by the end of the current financial year ending March 31, 2023, he said on a recent Travel News Weekly webcast. A second phase will see the national carrier resume flights to Frankfurt International (Germany), London Heathrow (UK), Washington Dulles and New York JFK (USA) with A350s. It is also looking at routes in the pipeline before it entered bankruptcy in December 2019 and stopped all commercial flights in 2020, including another gateway to Australia – probably Melbourne Tullamarine – but "this would take a while," he said. SAA previously operated four A350-900s between October 2019 and August 2020, including former Air Mauritius aircraft and two ex-Hainan Airlines aircraft leased from Avolon, the ch-aviation fleets history module shows. "The routes that we've picked for this year are the routes that will be easier and quicker for us to start. They do not require the type of investment that will take us long," he explained. Apart from restarting long-haul operations, the state-owned carrier also plans to add schedules to more coastal destinations, including between Cape Town and Durban, Johannesburg and George, and Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth, Tsimane disclosed.<br/>