top of page

SAA Once Again Team-Up with Turkish SunExpress

South African Airways (SAA) and SunExpress, a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, have agreed to enhance their partnership with expanded operations during South Africa’s peak end-of-year travel season. This coincides with the quiet winter period in Europe.

Following the initial year of collaboration in 2023, SunExpress is set to double its leased fleet to SAA. This expansion will involve the provision of four Boeing 737-800 aircraft along with cockpit and maintenance crew for six months. The first aircraft is scheduled to commence operations in November 2024.

This increase is expected to enhance SAA’s capability with an additional 20 daily flights on average, resulting in a total of 134 weekly flights spanning three routes. SAA hope this will lead to improved connectivity and increased travel choices for the South African flying public.

“We are delighted to confirm the expansion of our partnership with SunExpress to accommodate additional aircraft for our peak season,” says SAA interim CEO, Professor John Lamola. “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.”

The agreement also intends to strengthen cooperation by implementing a specialized training initiative for SAA cabin crew members. This program aims to foster closer collaboration between South African crew members and their counterparts at SunExpress. Training sessions will be conducted at the SunExpress headquarters in Antalya, Turkey, as well as at the SAA headquarters in Johannesburg.

“We are excited to expand our partnership with South African Airways and build on the successes of our first year together. 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," said Max Kownatzki, CEO of SunEpress.

Comments


Archive

bottom of page