South African Airways (SAA) and SunExpress, in a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, have agreed to strengthen their partnership with expanded operations during South Africa’s peak end-of-year travel season.
Building on the successful first year of partnership, SunExpress will now double its leased fleet to SAA, providing four Boeing 737-800 aircraft with cockpit as well as maintenance crew for a six-month period. The first aircraft will start operations in November 2024.
This will boost SAA’s capacity by an average of 20 daily flights, totaling 134 weekly flights across three routes, ensuring broader connectivity and greater travel options.
“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 further commits to enhancing collaboration through a specialised training programme for SAA cabin crew members. The training programme will deepen collaboration between South African crew members and their SunExpress counterparts. Training will take place at the headquarters of SunExpress in Antalya, Turkey and at the SAA headquarters in Johannesburg.
“This can only enhance the award-winning service we provide our customers,” added Lamola.
SunExpress CEO, Max Kownatzki, is equally excited for the expansion of the partnership.
“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,” Kownatzki says.
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