Qantas and SAA are winding up their codeshare agreement, effective May 31.
SAA’s codeshare flights on Qantas’s Sydney operation will be closed off for sale today, February 21. Travel agents will see the changes appear in GDSs progressively from Monday, February 24. No further bookings will be made for travel after June 1.
“Regulators had previously indicated that an extension of the codeshare beyond December 2014 was unlikely, so winding it up earlier means that Qantas can create new options for customers travelling from Johannesburg to Perth,” says Michi Messner, Regional Manager for Africa. “Options are available for customers to travel on Emirates services from Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban to Dubai, with onward connections to three daily Qantas codeshare services operated by Emirates to Perth.  Passengers will also have the option of travelling to Perth via Sydney.”
Qantas will continue to fly direct to Sydney from Johannesburg, with no change to the daily service operated by B747 aircraft (QF63/64). 
SAA customers will have the opportunity to travel on the service between Johannesburg and Sydney, through SAA’s gateway in Perth, which will offer a daily service. 
All Qantas customers with existing bookings on Qantas codeshare services operated by SAA (with a ‘QF’ flight number) between Johannesburg and Perth for travel on or after June 1 will be re-accommodated.
All SAA-ticketed codeshare passengers on the Qantas flight will be accommodated on to the flight number QF064 and QF063 and transported to their final destination. All SAA un-ticketed codeshare passengers who had booked SA7700 and SA7701 on Johannesburg-Sydney-Johannesburg will be re-accommodated on SAA’s Perth operations with the ticketing agent, using the most convenient option available for the onward connection to Sydney that is permitted within the conditions of the fare.
The airline said it has a strong relationship with SA Tourism and state tourism organisations and is committed to a range of marketing initiatives to promote South Africa as a destination.