SAA has announced plans to expand its international route network with flights to Europe, North America and East Asia in the next calendar year.

According to Bloomberg, the flights will reportedly be to Germany, China, the East Coast of the US, in addition to London by December 2025.

The airline currently operates 16 aircraft and will take delivery of an additional seven during 2025.

Economic impact

A study conducted by Oxford Economics Africa reveals that SAA’s survival is crucial to the local economy.

The study shows that SAA contributed R9.1bn (€475 million) to the country’s GDP for the 2023/24 financial year and that it is expected to more than triple over the next five years to R32.6bn (€1.7bn) by 2029/30.

The study also shows that the SAA Group’s operations will support 86 700 jobs by 2029/30, up from 25 000 jobs in 2023/24.

Furthermore, the Group’s operations stimulated fiscal revenues (tax) of R1.1bn (€57 million) in 2023/24, a figure that is projected to rise to R4.4bn (€229 million) in 2029/30.

The report estimates the Group’s tourism impact at R1.7bn (€88.7 million) in 2023/24, rising to R8.9bn (€464 million) in 2029/30. 

The study examined the SAA Group’s core economic contribution by analysing the impact of direct activity generated by SAA on tourism and South Africa’s international trade, the indirect activity stimulated by its procurement spending, and the induced impact that the wages of its workers and those in its supply chain support in the consumer economy.

SAA Interim CEO, Professor John Lamola, said: “The Oxford Economics Report affirms that the State’s contribution as the sole shareholder in SAA has not been without a tangible return on investment. In turn, the study ventures into a forecast of future impacts as derived from SAA’s growth and expansion plans. It serves as an independent validation of SAA’s current five-year Corporate Plan.”