South African Airways (SAA) and Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes (GOL) have reinstated their codeshare agreement, effective July 1.

The codeshare is a renewal of SAA and GOL's pre-pandemic agreement, which was delayed due to COVID-19.

The agreement includes flights between Cape Town International, OR Tambo International and Galeão-Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport in Rio.

It also extends to South African domestic routes connecting Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Gqeberha for inbound passengers and provides flights to over 20 Brazilian cities, including Rio de Janeiro, Brasília Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte and Florianópolis.

The codeshare is expected to serve routes to 60 additional Latin American destinations and many more African routes, allowing travellers to book multi-city itineraries on a single codeshare ticket.

Additionally, the agreement consolidates the loyalty systems of the carriers, with accrual for SAA Voyager Miles and Gol Smiles members.

“The reinstatement of the codeshare agreement with GOL affirms the return of SAA as an intercontinental service provider,” said Tebogo Tsimane, SAA CCO. “It comes six months after SAA launched direct flights into São Paulo and a few weeks after the launch of direct flights into Perth, Australia.