South African Airways (SAA) is celebrating the first year of its popular round-trip nonstop service between New York and Johannesburg, which launched on May 1, 2011. The morning departure from New York-JFK Airport provides the most convenient connection opportunities to a number of leisure and business destinations throughout the African continent.
The return non-stop service from Johannesburg allows passengers throughout the region to spend nearly a full day on the continent before catching their flight back to the US. The round-trip nonstop service has reduced the overall travel time in each direction by over 90 minutes, making it even more convenient for SAA’s customers to travel to and from South Africa.
“South African Airways is very pleased that the enhancement of our schedule between New York and Johannesburg has received such an overwhelming response from our customers over the past year,” said Todd Neuman, executive vice president, North America for South African Airways. “We’ve seen a 25% growth year over year in passengers, with the increase in demand coming from both business and leisure travelers. The timing of the schedule, with easy options to connect in New York or Johannesburg, provides an invaluable service to our customers, allowing them to reduce their overall travel time while enjoying our legendary award-winning service on board.”
South African Airways’ service to South Africa is operated with wide body state-of-the-art Airbus A340-600 aircraft. SAA’s code share partnerships with United Airlines and JetBlue Airways allow travelers to easily access SAA’s flights between New York and Johannesburg from many destinations throughout the US. Through SAA’s Johannesburg hub, same-day connections are available to popular destinations such as Cape Town and Durban; and wildlife, eco-tourism and adventure destinations throughout South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Exotic beach vacations in Mozambique and Mauritius are easily accessible, too. New service to Maun, Botswana, the gateway to the Okavango Delta, will begin on June 15th, providing yet another option for safari; and connections are easily available to SAA’s newest destinations, including Kigali (Rwanda), Bujumbura (Burundi), Ndola (Zambia) and Pointe Noire (Congo).
The schedule for SAA’s daily non-stop service between New York and Johannesburg is as follows:
SA 204 departs New York at 11:1 5 am, arrives in Johannesburg at 7:45 am the next day
SA 203 departs Johannesburg at 8:40 pm and arrives in New York at 6:40 am the next day
South African Airways features daily nonstop service from the U.S. to South Africa with morning departures from New York JFK and afternoon direct service from Washington Dulles (with a stop in Dakar, Senegal) that offer travel convenience and award-winning service.
South African Airways, 800-722-9675, www.flysaa.com