After suspending its South African operations in June 2012, India's Jet Airways (9W) is to return to the South African market, albeit under a codeshare agreement 
with South African Airways (SAA), the national carrier of South Africa and the only airline with non-stop flights between Mumbai and Johannesburg. The code share opens for Sale effective April 16th 2013, for travel effective April 18th 2013.
with South African Airways (SAA), the national carrier of South Africa and the only airline with non-stop flights between Mumbai and Johannesburg. The code share opens for Sale effective April 16th 2013, for travel effective April 18th 2013.
Under the arrangement Jet Airways will code share on South African Airways’ flights between Mumbai and Johannesburg and beyond to Cape Town and Durban. SAA will codeshare on Jet Airways’ operations between Mumbai and Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram.
According to Mr. Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways:
“Jet Airways is delighted to enter into a codeshare partnership with SAA, South Africa’s national carrier. Besides its global popularity as a tourist destination, South Africa, in its capacity as Africa’s largest economy, is also a strategic trade and investment destination.”
“The partnership strengthens the historic commercial, political and cultural cooperation between South Africa and India. “In essence, the agreement further supports the objectives of the BRICS member states”. It will help meet the high demand for air travel between India’s large business hubs and South Africa,” said Manoj Papa, SAA’s acting General Manager: Commercial.
A recent study conducted by the Department of Tourism indicated that the number of tourists from India to South Africa has steadily increased in recent years by over 122% between 2005 and 2010 and a further 29% increase between January and September 2011.
