South African Airways to add India destinations through code-sharing agreements

JOHANNESBURG: South African Airways ( SAA) will redirect all its Indian destination flights through Abu Dhabi from next month to cut costs through its code-sharing agreements with Etihad and Jet Airways.

It is adding multiple destinations to India through the code-sharing agreements, arrangements in which two or more airlines share the same flight. The new destinations in India include Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Madras.

SAA has announced that that from 1 April 2015, all its Indian destination flights would be routed via Abu Dhabi, in a code-share agreement for connections with Etihad and Jet Airways into the sub-continent.

Etihad Regional Business Development Manager John Friel said that through its arrangement with Jet Airways, South Africans could reach almost every destination in India.

The new route is aimed at reducing losses for SAA, which has come under increasing pressure in the past few years for seeking bailouts from government to survive.

The move will see an end to its direct flights between Johannesburg and Mumbai.

The India reconfiguration follows on an announcement last month that SAA would also use code-share agreements for its China route.

SAA Acting Chief Executive Nic Bezuidenhout said the India and China changes would increase connectivity between South Africa and major economic centres within "two strategically important BRICS member states".

Travel agents and businessmen here are lamenting the end of convenient direct flights from Johannesburg to Mumbai by SAA.

Less than three years ago, SAA started non-stop daily flights between Johannesburg and Mumbai after gradually increasing it to five from the three per week that it began a few years before that.

In April 2010, Jet Airways also started a direct daily service between Mumbai and Johannesburg, but this stopped just two years later.

Travel agent R C Naik said the ending of the direct flights to Mumbai would be inconvenient for especially businessmen on tight schedules, who would not like the longer times involved.

But leisure travellers were likely to take advantage of the new route by taking in the sights of Abu Dhabi during their holidays with a stopover as well.

"It will all depend on the packages that Etihad will put together," Naik said.