South African Airways (SAA) is set to relaunch daily flights between Johannesburg and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania on Monday, January 20, 2025.

“This flight is not simply a milestone for SAA and linking Johannesburg and Dar es Salaam through air travel; it heralds a bridge that connects two of Africa’s most influential economies and strengthens the friendship between our nations”, said SAA’s acting CEO, Professor John Lamola.

“It brings together industries, communities and resources, enabling us to unlock greater prosperity, foster collaboration and generate new opportunities for trade, investment and development for both our economies, and for the people of South Africa and Tanzania.”

Lamola said the relaunch represents SAA’s strategic initiative to strengthen the airline’s presence across Africa.

“SAA’s regional network has emerged as a top performer, contributing significantly to the revenue of the SAA Group. More importantly, these regional connections are crucial for the broader economic growth of South Africa,” he said.

The daily flights will depart from OR Tambo International Airport at 10pm and arrive at Julius Nyerere International Airport at 2.30am and from Dar es Salaam to Johannesburg, the flight will depart at 5.10am and in Johannesburg at 7.55am.

Lamola said the schedule of seven weekly return flights has been engineered to accommodate both point-to-point and connecting passengers.

In November 2024, SAA started operating 12 weekly flights to both Harare and Lusaka, up from the current 10 times a week to Harare and up from 7 to Lusaka.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it enhanced its presence by flying five times a week to Kinshasa.

It also began flying to the DRC’s mining hub, Lubumbashi.

Domestically, it increased its flights to Gqeberha to three times a day.

Furthermore, SAA increased its intercontinental flight frequency to Perth in Australia to five weekly flights from January 7, 2025.

sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za

IOL