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SAPA PR -- SAA LAUNCHES ROUTE TO BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

 Issued by: South African Airways
 
Attention: News Editors
 
For immediate release: 
25 November 2008
 
SAA LAUNCHES ROUTE TO BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
 
Johannesburg, Tuesday, 25th November 2008. South African Airways
(SAA) will launch a new route to Buenos Aires next year as part of a
broader growth strategy for the airline.
 
Flights on the route between Johannesburg and Buenos Aires in
Argentina will begin on 8 April 2009, and will initially take place
twice a week. An Airbus A340-200 will be used, with the flights
departing on Wednesday and Sunday at 09:50 from Johannesburg to arrive
in Buenos Aires at 16:30. Flights will depart the same day from Buenos
Aires at 18:30 to arrive the following morning at 08:55 at OR Tambo
International airport in Johannesburg. SAA will add a third service on
Fridays from July 2009 onwards.
 
Passengers will be able to start booking tickets for flights to
Buenos Aires from Friday 28th November 2008.
 
The route to Buenos Aires will complement SAA's existing daily South 
American service to São Paulo in Brazil and will feed the airline's
flights from Johannesburg to destinations in Africa, as well as to Asia 
and Australia. From Johannesburg, travellers can fly conveniently with 
SAA to destinations within South Africa such as Durban, Cape Town, Port 
Elizabeth and East London, as well as to 19 destinations in Africa. 
SAA offers travellers safety, reliability, punctuality and good service 
which are the key requirements of our customers.
 
Adding a second destination in South America strengthens the
airline's position as the preferred carrier between South America and
Asia. "We are positive that by adding more seats in the market we will 
meet the strong demand from both continents wishing to benefit from our 
shorter flying times and superior service via the South Atlantic
route," says SAA CEO Khaya Ngqula.
 
"Buenos Aires is an excellent market for SAA, offering good
connectivity throughout the southern half of South America, adding to
our well established and very popular destination in Sao Paulo with its 
excellent connections to key cities in the northern part of South
America and Central America," says Ngqula.
 
SAA has experienced strong demand on its Sao Paulo route, which is
currently the airline's only South American destination. The Buenos
Aires route will build on the success of this route, allowing SAA to
facilitate southern hemisphere traffic flows. Negotiations are also
under way with airlines Lan Chile and Aeromexico about future
co-operation.
 
The Buenos Aires route expansion is in line with SAA's vision of
being an African airline with global reach. It will be SAA's first
route launch following the airline's deep and fundamental restructuring 
plan.
 
"SAA's restructuring strategy is still under way, and will
officially end in March 2009, but it has worked extremely well for the
organisation by reducing costs and growing revenue. A total of
R1-billion costs was removed and revenue grew 9% to R22,26bn in
2007/08, with revenue growth expected to again exceed the target set
for the current financial year.
 
"We are now at the point where we can think about growth in order to 
position SAA for the future. The growth plans are currently being
finalised for implementation in the new financial year ie April 2009.
These plans will build on the gains we have made under restructuring
rather than setting SAA on a new strategic course," says Ngqula.
 
Issued by SAA Group Corporate Affairs