SAA plans new freighter routes

In a pleasant end to its financial year, SAA Cargo is flexing a lot of new muscle in its airfreight operations, according to marketing manager, Ronel Mendes. Exports are doing exceptionally well with the strength of the SA rand against the US dollar, she told FTW, and the flights are running well up to capacity. The only complaint, she added, is that although volumes are looking very good, the airline’s yield is down because its costs are also in the strong rand. SAA Cargo also has plans for four new routes for its freighters. Although she cannot reveal the actual routes chosen because they are only being finalised right at this moment, Mendes did emphasise that a main target would be into the African continent. “We are also upgrading some of our African destinations,” she said, “putting larger aircraft on some of the busier routes. Although we are limited to the available belly-hold space on these passenger flights, this could increase our capacity up to 14 tons on certain of the larger aircraft.” Returning to freighter flights, Mendes said that the European schedule remained the same. But SAA Cargo has an eye on the Far East, with plans to add a Beijingbound flight in February next year, adding this to its current Hong Kong route. SAA passenger aircraft are now flying direct to JFK Airport in New York, although this reduces SAA cargo’s payload. “But,” said Mendes, “we still have the flights to Washington via Dakar, Senegal, and these will keep capacity the same as currently.” SAA Cargo also has aspirations for its operations into South America, looking at 10 flights a week into Sao Paulo, Brazil, and three to Buenos Aires in Argentina. “So basically for us in SAA Cargo, we are looking at a great drive into Africa, and growth on the South American trades. “We are also going to be increasing loads on our domestic flight network.”