History of South African Airlines

1934, European airlines acquired the South African government aviation industry and changed its name to South African Airlines. Provide services between Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. A year later, South African Airlines took over Southwest African Airlines and provided weekly airmail service between Windhoek and Kimberly.

In 1930s, South Africa opened international flights to Kenya and Uganda. Business grew slowly in the 1940s, and flights were suspended during World War II. 1945, 165438+ 10 year 10 month, South Africa achieved its long-term goal. It expanded the European route to Bournemouth (UK), using Airbus, but switched to Lockheed constellation to fly international routes at 1950. With the advent of the 1950s, Boeing 707 aircraft joined the airline fleet. South Africa has opened up the use of Britain in Germany 1953? Comet haviland was also the first foreign airline to use it outside Britain. In June, 1957, 1 1, the kangaroo route was added to Perth, Australia. South Africa's first 707 landed in Europe on June 1960 and arrived in Athens after a 9-hour flight. Two years later, South African Airlines flew directly from South Africa to Britain and other European destinations. And the flight from Johannesburg to new york via Rio de Janeiro was opened in February 1969. 197 1, South African Airlines used Boeing 747-200, and then added Airbus A300 with long-range 747-SP at 1976, and 1983 began to use 747-300 EUD.

In the international market, the growth rate of South African Airlines lags far behind most. Moreover, many African countries, except South Africa's neighboring countries, refused to let South Africa use its airspace. However, at that time, the South African Fleet acquired six Boeing 747s with special performance, which could increase the range and reduce the stopovers.

In the 1970s, it launched flights to Asia and used Boeing 747 to fly to Hong Kong. 1980, South African Airlines began to fly to Taipei. South African Airlines 1984 celebrates its 50th anniversary. During this year, the South African government made a controversial decision. It signed a treaty to provide military assistance to Somalia in exchange for the services of South African Airlines in Somalia. This proved to be a loss, because a few Somalis can afford air tickets, and few people want to go to Somalia because of the continuous civil strife.

1985 due to insufficient demand, south African airlines grounded Buenos Aires, but still flew to Rio de Janeiro. 1997, South African Airlines launched a new image and uniform, giving up the antelope emblem and the three old national colors of orange, white and blue. The new painting is designed according to the new national flag symbolizing the rainbow country. The name of the airline's plane was also simply changed to "South Africa".

1998, the route from Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo resumed and the route to Copenhagen was suspended. 1999, South African Airlines and Delta Air Lines started flights with code * * * from Atlanta to South Africa. These flights use South African Airlines.

In 200 1 year, South Africa won the Best Cargo Airline Africa Award. Nigerian Airlines signed a code * * * sharing agreement with South African Airlines to provide services from the United States to Lagos, using South African Airlines' 747 passenger plane (the code * * * sharing agreement has expired, and South African Airlines' flights from the United States no longer stop in Nigeria).

In March 2002, at the request of CEO Andrei Viljoen, South African Airlines began to update its fleet at a cost of $3.5 billion. South African orders have caused competition between Boeing and Airbus. In the end, Airbus won the order, but some people may think that this may be a political decision to sell aircraft with Boeing in the apartheid era. But there is no concrete evidence to confirm this statement.

In 2002, South African Airlines ordered 9 A340-600 passenger planes, 6 A340-300 passenger planes, 1 1 A3 19 and 15 A320 passenger planes. Three A340-600 aircraft are from the International Leasing Finance Corporation. The new A3 19 replaces the aging Boeing 737-200, but the Boeing 737-800 will continue to serve.

In March 2004, South African Airlines announced its application to join the Star Alliance. As a full member of Star Alliance, South African Airlines was established in April 2006. In July 2004, Andre Viljoen resigned as CEO, and the media speculated that the reason for his resignation was that the company suffered heavy losses in the restructuring. In August 2004, Kaya Ngoura was appointed as CEO.

In 2005, it became the first non-Saudi airline to fly directly to Saudi Arabian cities such as Hajimam and Medina.

In July 2005, South Africa began to use Boeing 747-400 to fly from Johannesburg to Washington, D.C. four times a week. In July, 2006, it was changed to a daily flight, and the model was changed from 747-400 to Airbus A340-600. In addition, because passengers between Ghana and the United States could not be obtained after the reorganization, the stop in Accra was changed to Dakar. Accra will remain the destination of South African Airlines. In 2007, South African Airlines retired all Boeing 747-400.