Summary
- South African Airways (SAA) will increase A340 flights in December, offering over 13,000 weekly seats on two routes.
- SAA currently operates one A340-300, ordinarily used as a spare aircraft or for peak demand, after it retired most of its A340 fleet before the pandemic.
- SAA had previously announced that its remaining A340 would be retired by the end of 2023, but this seems unlikely.
South African Airways (SAA) will ramp up A340 flights next month despite the type’s imminent retirement. The carrier has just a single A340-300 remaining in service.
A340 flight increase for December
According to data from Cirium, SAA plans to more-than-triple the number of Airbus A340 flights this December, rising from eight weekly roundtrip flights to 26. The aircraft will be active on the carrier’s Abuja (ABJ) – Accra (ACC) and Johannesburg (JNB) – ACC routes, offering over 13,000 weekly seats equally distributed across the two routes.
Photo: axell.rf | Shutterstock
This is an increase from four weekly roundtrips per route to 13, representing an additional 9,108 weekly seats. The South African carrier at one point operated eight Airbus A340-300s but retired most of them just before the COVID pandemic, along with nine A340-600s.
Its sole remaining A340 has mostly been used as a spare aircraft to support SAA’s schedule, or as a higher-capacity alternative when routes experience peak demand. SAA is one of the few airlines to still operate the -300 variant – there are just 45 of the type still in operation worldwide, with notable carriers including Lufthansa, SWISS and Mahan Air.
Earlier this year, the carrier also removed its three remaining Airbus A319-100s from service, which had flown with the carrier since 2005.
Still awaiting retirement
Last year, the airline said its remaining A340 would be retired by the end of 2023, but this doesn’t look likely. The carrier has bolstered its fleet in the past few months with one A320 and one 737-800, but evidently still needs the capacity of the quadjet.
Last month, the carrier swapped out the A340 with its newer A330s on its flights to Brazil after resuming nonstop flights to São Paulo from Cape Town and Johannesburg.
About the SAA fleet
Data from ch-aviation reveals the South African carrier currently has a fleet of eight active aircraft – this includes five Airbus A320-200s, one A330-300s, the aforementioned A340 and one Boeing 737-800 that arrived last month.
Photo: Matheus Obst | Shutterstock
The airline also recently welcomed back one of its former Airbus A330-300s (registration: ZS-SXJ) that had flown under it since 2016 before a lengthy spell on the sidelines over the pandemic. Depending on how its takeover proceedings develop, SAA could be on the verge of a rebound and major expansion with new funding. This summer, SAA received competition regulator approval for its proposed sale to Takatso Aviation Proprietary Limited – however, there have been no further updates on when a deal may close.
Have you ever flown on a South African Airways Airbus A340? How did you find the experience? Let us know in the comments.
Source: ch-aviation, Cirium