More SAA flights set for East London

TRAVELLERS using South African Airways can breathe a sigh of relief on flight availability as the airline has reintroduced more flights to East London.

This means there will be more flights from cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town to East London – something that businesspeople will welcome.

An SAA travel release posted on the airline’s website revealed the extended flight schedules and said it was a way for the troubled airline to strengthen its express network.

“The year-long schedule brings travel certainty and choice for customers ,” SAA spokesman Tlali Tlali said in the release.

The new schedule came into effect from Monday and will be in place until the end of May next year.

He said that the extended schedules were in partnership with SAA, SA Airlink and Mango Airlines, which took over the major SAA flight share in January.

“We are confident that the capacity we have deployed will sustain the network operated by SA Express until it is reinstated into service by the regulator,” Tlali said.

An SAA sales consultant at the East London Airport said: “There is some improvement with the flights. SAA has brought in some additional ones. Like with Johannesburg flights, they looked at which travel days are popular and brought in more flights for that.” Passengers hoping to travel to Johannesburg on Monday and Thursday mornings can now catch a 6.30am flight. Also, passengers can now find three SAA flights flying out of East London on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Airports Company South Africa spokeswoman Senzeni Ndebele said: “This was effective from the 11th June 2018. Also bear in mind that SAA does the handling for SA Airlink in East London.”