SAA and SunExpress, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, have strengthened their partnership with expanded operations during South Africa’s peak summer holiday season.
Following a successful first year of the partnership, SunExpress will double its wet-leased fleet to SAA by providing four B737-800s with cockpit and maintenance crew for six months. The aircraft will begin operating in November.
This will increase SAA’s capacity by an average of 20 daily and 134 weekly flights across three routes.
“The additional aircraft will go a long way towards meeting increased demand during the peak end-of-year holiday season. The partnership also helps SAA better manage the global aircraft availability challenge,” says SAA Interim CEO John Lamola.
The agreement further commits to enhancing a specialised training programme for SAA cabin crew members. The training programme will deepen collaboration between South African crew members and their SunExpress counterparts. Training will take place at the headquarters of SunExpress in Antalya, Turkey, and at the SAA headquarters in Johannesburg.
“Doubling our leased fleet to SAA marks a significant step in managing seasonality as we continue to grow our fleet. The dedicated training we provide to SAA underscores our shared vision of operational excellence and reflects our willingness to leverage more opportunities together,” SunExpress CEO Max Kownatzki says.
