Johannesburg, South Africa (ADV) – South African Airways (SAA) and Africa World Airlines (AWA) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding that allows the two airlines to enhance their relationship through synergies that include code sharing, franchising and any other related projects.
The MoU was signed by the SAA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vuyani Jarana and CEO of Africa World Airlines (AWA) John Quan at the Ghana Ministry of Aviation in the capital city of Ghana, Accra.
According to the South African Government News Agency, the SAA currently operates daily flights between Johannesburg and Accra, with four of the flights continuing onward to Washington and the other three flights continuing onward to Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.
“As part of our turnaround strategy, we are constantly looking at ways of improving our customers’ travel experiences,” said Jarana.
“This agreement gives our customers seamless connections from Johannesburg into more destinations in Ghana and other West African destinations.”
Quan said he is positive that AWA and SAA will have a fruitful relationship.
“We are excited by the potential that this African partnership can deliver and are confident that it will be a win-win relationship for both sides,” said Quan.
The SAA and AWA relations date back to 2015, and has resulted in the commencement of the Accra to Washington Dulles flights.
Details of the memorandum
SAA and AWA formed a relationship in 2015, which resulted in the commencement of the Accra to Washington Dulles flights.
SAA operates daily flights between Johannesburg and Accra, with four of the flights continuing onwards to Washington; and the other three flights continue onwards to Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.
SAA’s relationship with AWA has since grown from the original commercial cooperation into the new interline commercial agreement, which became possible when SAA finalised technology integration with AWA in November.
The interline agreement allows the acceptance of each other’s customers and access to each other’s network.
SAA customers will fly from Accra on SAA operated flights and then connect to further destinations on flights operated by AWA.
Over the coming months, the interline agreement will evolve into a code share agreement.
SAA customers will then travel on one ticket from Johannesburg to Accra or from Washington to Accra, and onwards to a number of destinations such as Kumasi in central Ghana, Tamale in the north, and Takoradi in the west.
SAA customers will also be able to connect from Accra to Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria, Freetown in Sierra Leone and Monrovia in Liberia.
In turn, customers of Africa World Airlines travelling from Ghana, Lagos, Abuja, Freetown, and Monrovia, are able to travel on one ticket from any AWA point of origin and connect onto SAA international flights to either Washington D.C. or Johannesburg, or further on the SAA network.
As of April 2019, SAA will increase the frequency of flights from Accra to Washington to five flights per week.
SAA offers the only nonstop flight between Ghana and Washington D.C. and convenient connections to/from over 100 cities across the US and Canada through its Star Alliance partner, United Airlines via Washington, DC-Dulles.
© Bur-JHB – M.C/K.R – African Daily Voice (ADV) – Follow us on Twitter : @ADVinfo_en
