SAA has taken an important step along the road towards the rebuilding of its European network.

The South African carrier has signed a new codeshare agreement with Lufthansa, with immediate effect. It’s a restoration of the codeshare between the two airlines – the German airline originally had a codeshare with SAA prior to SAA’s collapse into business rescue before COVID.

This means agents can book their clients on Lufthansa to Johannesburg and continue to other destinations on SAA with a single ticket and one seamless baggage check-in.

Also in the pipeline, once regulatory approval is granted, SWISS (also a member of the Lufthansa Group) will codeshare with SAA. Agents can book their clients on SAA ‘paper’ on SWISS flights from Zurich to Johannesburg to and from the Swiss carrier’s other European destinations on a single ticket, with one baggage check-in.

“We are thrilled to resume our codeshare agreement with Lufthansa and soon with SWISS, who are both members of Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance,” said SAA Chief Commercial Officer, Tebogo Tsimane. “It is a key step in reconnecting our travellers from around the continent to a wider range of international destinations through their SAA ticket, and they earn Voyager miles.”

“We are very pleased to announce that we have re-established our codeshare agreement with SAA,” said Matthias Lefèvre, General Manager of Sales at Lufthansa Group Airlines Southern Africa. “Building on our long-term partnership with SAA allows us to offer greater flexibility and a larger variety to our customers in South Africa. Lufthansa and SWISS passengers can add a connecting flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town or Durban within the same booking.”

Airlines within the Lufthansa Group offer more than 35 weekly connections to South Africa from their European hubs.