SAA, which is currently undergoing its major restart process, hopes to resume long-haul flights ex-Cape Town before the end of the current financial year. But first, it will onboard its new equity partner Takatso. 

Tebogo Tsimane, interim Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), said last week that the onboarding of SAA’s new 51% shareholder was the priority and the deal was in its final stages. 

Tsimane said future route development plans would be handled sensibly before the end of the current financial year (March 2023). By then, SAA expected to have opened new domestic and regional routes and, depending on the aircraft situation, to have restarted one or two long-haul flights.

New York, São Paulo and at least one Australian city are on the wish list for Cape Town. Johannesburg to Perth and Johannesburg to Washington via Accra are some of the airline’s most desired international routes featuring on SAA’s restart plan. Tsimane said Takatso had the muscle to enable SAA to scale up very quickly.

He added that SAA’s domestic market share was currently small but growing. He sees brand SAA as an important strategic asset and insisted: “We are still the national carrier.”

Tsimane, who took over from Simon Newton-Smith in the Commercial Executive role at the end of July, has more than 30 years’ experience in aviation. He has served at least 20 of those years at SAA. A former GM of Operations, Tsimane challenges the narrative that SAA’s long-haul network decisions had been manipulated by the South African government in the past. 

Long haul is important

“There are a significant number of regional destinations that are in the plan for this financial year. And our restart story is also not complete until we go long haul,” Tsimane maintained.

Although the long-haul destinations in SAA’s pipeline are not new, the revival of long-haul flights from Cape Town is a definite departure from the carrier’s abandoned previous long-term turnaround strategy, which sought to make regional services from Johannesburg its focus. 

Expanding on some of the airline’s wish-list destinations, Tsimane was excited about the prospect of more US flights to South Africa and a ‘South-to-South plan’ connecting the Cape with Latin America via Brazil. Depending on the aircraft, Tsimane said there was also potential for a Cape Town link to Australia.

“We definitely need to go back to Washington,” he added. “That was a very successful route for us, via Accra. New York was also particularly successful, and from Cape Town we are able to overcome the challenge of Johannesburg’s hot and high conditions. We could see New York by flying out of Cape Town or Jo’burg, or a combination of both.”

Much of SAA’s regional growth plan is tied up in the airline’s partnership with Kenya Airways.

The airlines announced a series of codeshare agreements in July. But Tsimane said the intention was to establish a Pan African Airline Group, which would manage the partnership and oversee operations of the different brands that would later join SAA and KQ in the venture. 

Subject to regulatory approval, Tsimane said the group could pool resources and benefit from better bargaining power with suppliers. It is yet to be decided if other airlines will need to buy their way in.  

“We aren’t denying the obstacles that are there,” Tsimane said, “but financiers are out there, and we aim to pool resources that will give us the scale to negotiate (with suppliers). If we can’t, those who can (ie other foreign airlines) will eat our lunch.”

Tsimane said KQ and SAA already had strategic routes in mind and hinted that Nigeria was a priority market. “Where we hope to go, we cannot go by ourselves,” he said.

Tsimane was born in Mmabatho and raised in Soweto. He is convinced that African airlines can be sustainable and successful. “The aim of the Pan African Airline Group is to create a home for airlines who share the same vision. Our aim is to collaborate. Where we are going can only be achieved along with other airlines.”

Despite the long wait to onboard Takatso, Tsimane said: “Our ability to scale up will shoot through the roof with the muscle that Takatso has.”

There would still be room for override commissions for trade partners, he said. However, Tsimane said the nature and structure of the rewards environment had changed. “There is still room for override commissions but the nature and structure will be totally different. Currently, the bulk of that (corporate) traffic is still thawing out.”

Tsimane paid tribute to travel agents as SAA’s long-standing sales partners. “Thank you. Without you, we would not have a successful restart. It is gratifying to see the level of support. You believe in us. There is more capacity coming, and next year is an exciting time for us. Thanks for your patience; we hope to be rewarding that.”