South African Airways serves Cape Town Directly from Dubai

From 30 March SAA customers will be able to book on SAA flight numbers on this route operated by Emirates.

Rajendran Vellapalath, SAA Manager Middle East said:

"South African Airways is delighted to announce this enhancement to our code share agreement with Emirates. This agreement further demonstrates SAA's commitment to provide our customers in the Middle East, especially in the UAE, with more choices and greater flexibility for travel between Dubai and Cape Town. The expansion of the code share agreement reflects the long-standing partnership between Emirates and South African Airways. South Africa is one of the top tourist destinations in the world. With daily flights between Dubai and Cape Town along with three flights a day to Johannesburg, SAA passengers now have even more choices when visiting one of the most beautiful countries on earth".

Commenting on this Ms. Agnes Nyamande Pitso, Consul General of South Africa in Dubai, said, "The direct air link between Dubai and Cape Town will further facilitate the rapidly growing ties between the UAE and South Africa especially in the tourism and business sector. This achievement is timely as South Africa prepares to host the first ever Soccer World Cup Tournament on the African continent in 2010, which will lead to an increase in travel demand".

She added: "South Africa accounts for almost 45% of the GDP of the entire African continent, with an economy three times the size of the second biggest (Egypt). Over the years, the UAE and South Africa have consolidated their relationship by signing several bilateral agreements especially on defence cooperation and air services. There have been significant tourism investments flowing into South Africa from Middle East investors on the acquisition of hospitality properties. This code share agreement will not only bring convenience and greater benefits to SAA customers but also help to enhance the trade, investment and tourist links between the two countries".

Rajendran added, "SAA currently has a code share agreement with Emirates on its three times a day flights to Johannesburg from Dubai.

With the introduction of this new code share to Cape Town, SAA will have approximately 1900 seats of combined capacity per week in each direction between Johannesburg and Cape Town from Dubai.

Much of the demand for the service is expected to come from the expanding South African community that live and work in the Gulf.

There are currently over 100,000 South African nationals living throughout the Gulf region, out of which over 30,000 live in the UAE.

The unique benefit of SAA customers travelling on these code share flights is that passengers will be able to earn miles on Voyager (the Frequent Flyer programme of South African Airways) and redeem miles on Emirates and other Star Alliancetm carriers, while enjoying all the services of the operating carrier both on the ground and in the air.

In addition to the direct flights from Dubai, SAA customers can also easily connect onto a number of daily flights to Cape Town operated by SAA from its Johannesburg hub at OR Tambo International Airport".

Members of both Voyager and Emirates frequent flyer programme, Skywards, will be able to accrue and redeem miles when they fly on the code share flights. Business class passengers of SAA can also enjoy the lounge access and all other benefits".

SAA today carries more than 7 million passengers a year on a route network that serves 34 cities in 26 countries.

SAA's unrivalled network, featuring connections to 19 destinations within South Africa, and more than 20 cities across the rest of the continent, make the airline the savvy traveller's 'gateway to Africa'".

As a member of the Star Alliancetm, South African Airways is able to offer its customers 897 destinations in 160 countries and more than 17,000 flights daily.

Other than direct flights from Dubai, by entering into strategic alliances with Saudi Arabian Airlines and Egypt Air, South African Airways today offers passengers a wider network of flights from Jeddah and Cairo through Johannesburg.