SAA to increase Nairobi-Jo’burg flights

By Macharia Kamau

South African Airways (SAA) has announced plans to increase flights between Nairobi and Johannesburg to tap to growing traffic.

The airline operates one daily round trip between Kenya and South Africa, but would add three flights to its daily schedule. The airline noted the additional capacity has been necessitated by increased traffic between the two countries.

“The additional three flights will increase the service between Johannesburg and Nairobi from seven to 10 flights per week,” said Theunis Potgieter SAA’s General Manager, Commercial.

“Kenya is a key destination in our East Africa operation and increasing capacity will give a variety of options to travellers.”

Check-in policy

“We will continue operating this route with a combination of the Boeing 738, offering 32 business and 125 economy seats, and the Airbus A319 with a capacity of 25 seats in business class and 95 in economy.”

Other than SAA, the Johannesburg-Nairobi route is serviced by Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and RwandAir. The latter two however, do not have direct flights and instead passengers have to connect through their respective hubs in Addis Ababa and Kigali.

Meanwhile SAA also announced a new baggage check-in policy limiting to two the number of luggage pieces international travellers check-in when flying using the airline.

Beginning September this year, SAA said it would adopt a new check-in baggage policy that restricts the number of pieces of baggage a passenger checks in, rather than the total weight of the passenger’s checked baggage.

“Each of these pieces will be subject to weight and size restrictions. The new policy describes the number of baggage pieces a passenger may check-in, as well as the weight restrictions for each piece, according to route and class of travel,” the airline said in a statement.