John Lamola told Southern Africa’s Travel News the carrier, which has been reborn following financial difficulties, had the slots for another three years.
The 14 weekly slots were until March leased to Qatar Airways, but the reformed SAA currently has no long-haul aircraft with which to relaunch its Heathrow-Johannesburg route.
However, SAA, which relaunched in June 2021 with 51% private investment, is under government pressure to reconnect the country with Europe. In a statement, it said it had got the green light for fleet expansion “to pave the way for the national carrier to relaunch international routes”.
