Summary
- South African Airways is resuming its intercontinental flights to São Paulo after a three-year hiatus, with flights scheduled from Cape Town and Johannesburg.
- The airline will replace its Airbus A340 with the newer and more efficient A330 on both routes.
- The A330 offers a slightly smaller seating capacity compared to the A340, but it provides premium passengers with more privacy in the business cabin.
Just a couple of months before the resumption of its long-haul service, South African Airways (SAA) has updated its flight schedule, indicating that it will replace the Airbus A340 with the A330 on both routes between South Africa and Brazil.
Resuming intercontinental flights
South African Airways and its customers are counting down the days until the resumption of the carrier's intercontinental flights after a three-year hiatus. As previously reported, SAA will return to the long-haul market with flights to São Paulo (GRU) from Cape Town (CPT) on October 31 and Johannesburg (JNB) on November 6, with the following schedule:
Flight | Route | Days | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
SA0226 | CPT-GRU | Tue & Sat | 12:55-16:35 |
SA0227 | GRU-CPT | Tue & Sat | 18:05-06:40 |
SA0222 | JNB-GRU | Mon & Thu | 11:20-16:15 |
SA0223 | GRU-JNB | Mon & Thu | 17:45-07:45 |
The Star Alliance member currently has seven aircraft in its fleet, including five A320-200s, one A330-300, and one A340-300. It had planned to operate the A340-300, with registration ZS-SXF on both routes. However, the quadjet will be replaced with the A330-300, registered as ZS-SXM.
Discover more aviation news about the passenger experience here.
Two surviving widebodies
Engulfed in financial troubles for several years, SAA now operates a much smaller fleet than before the pandemic. In the last two decades, the national carrier's fleet peaked in 2004 with 72 passenger aircraft, including 34 widebodies and 38 narrowbodies.
Just before the pandemic, in 2019, SAA had a fleet of 47 aircraft, including 29 widebody and 18 narrowbody jets. These figures have drastically reduced today, with SAA having only two widebodies in operation, one A340-300 and one A330-300. Both are currently in use on domestic routes and charter flights around Africa.
Although it is not a brand-new aircraft, the six-year-old A330 is much younger and more efficient than the A340. It was built in April 2017 and delivered to SAA in June 2017, operating flights on a number of long-haul routes. It currently flies from Johannesburg to Cape Town, Harare, Lagos, and Accra.
On the other hand, the A340 is 18 years old and nearing retirement from SAA's fleet. ZS-SXF was built in February 2005 and delivered to the airline the following month. In August 2023, it frequently flew between Johannesburg and Cape Town and operated charter flights to Accra and Havana.
Twinjet vs Quadjet
It is clear that SAA prefers to operate a newer aircraft on its first intercontinental flight in three years. While there are significant differences regarding range and efficiency, let's see how the two cabins compare.
A340 | A330 | |
|---|---|---|
Total seats | 253 | 249 |
Business (seat pitch) | 73" | 45" |
Economy (seat pitch) | 33/34" | 30/31/32" |
The A340 has 253 seats in total, with 38 in business and 215 in economy class. This is four more than the A330, which has 46 seats in business and 203 in economy class. Although both jets are configured in a 2-4-2 formation in the economy cabin, the quadjet has a 2-2-2 business cabin, while the twinjet has a 1-2-1 business configuration.
The A340 would have offered passengers extra legroom as it has more seat pitch in both cabins. However, the A330 offers premium passengers more privacy with the single flat beds in the business cabin. Despite having less space in the cabin, the twinjet is the favorite on the CPT-GRU and JNB-GRU flights.
Are you planning to fly to São Paulo on South African Airways? Please let us know in the comments!
Source: ch-aviation, ATDB.aero