SAA says it will start flights to two cities in Malawi, Lilongwe, the capital, 100km from Lake Malawi, and Blantyre, the commercial hub; the Namibian capital of Windhoek; and the historic town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and all before the start of the festive season.

SAA issued a statement saying that the International Air Services Council (IASC) has ratified the airline’s retention of all its historical route traffic rights, following the airline voluntarily relinquishing of a number of frequencies on the destinations it is not currently servicing.

SAA’s Executive Chairman and CEO, Professor John Lamola, said in the statement that SAA, as a buoyant national airline, had an important enabling role in the South African economy. “Those routes and frequencies that are not part of SAA’s medium-term plans will progressively be released to the Council for the benefit of the industry.”

The addition of these regional destinations will lend some muscle to the airline’s Africa route map.

Additionally, the airline will increase its frequencies from Johannesburg to Cape Town and Durban as well as Accra, Harare, Lusaka, Mauritius and Kinshasa.

SAA says it is on course to re-enter some of its traditional regional markets and enter new routes that remain underserved. Plans are also under way to launch SAA’s first intercontinental route since its re-start – this will be during the first quarter of 2023.