South African Airways to Launch and Revive Various Routes

South African Airways will resume services on several routes and introduce some new ones.

Speaking at Africa’s Travel Indaba 2025, a tourism event on the African continent, SAA’s Interim Chief Commercial Officer, Tebogo Tsimane, said that the airline has route expansion plans.

South African Airways intends to start flying to the coastal cities of George and East London. Furthermore, it will relaunch flights between Durban and Cape Town. Johannesburg – George flights are set to resume in April 2026. The date for the relaunch of services between Johannesburg and East London has yet to be announced. The resumption of Cape Town – Durban flights will also be announced soon, the carrier stated.

South African has two new cross-border routes in the pipeline. It intends to start flying between Johannesburg and Gaborone (Botswana) in October this year. Then, the airline also intends to introduce a seasonal service between Cape Town and Mauritius. The route will commence in November this year.

That said, the launch of these new and revived services is subject to aircraft availability. South African Airways has been rebuilding its fleet recently.

The restructured airline resumed scheduled services in 2021 after an extended business rescue process. South Africa’s national carrier now operates scheduled services on over 17 routes.

The airline relaunched scheduled flights in 2021 with just one domestic route: Johannesburg – Cape Town. It has subsequently resumed domestic services between Johannesburg and Durban as well as between Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.

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Lorne Philipot

Lorne is a South Africa-based aviation journalist. He was captivated and fascinated by flying from the day he took his first airline flight. With a passion for aviation in his blood, he has flown to destinations in all corners of the globe. Lorne has traveled extensively and lived in various countries. Drawing on his travels and passion for aviation, Lorne enjoys writing about airlines, routes, networks, and new developments.

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