Three years after its final transatlantic flight, South African Airways has plans to revive service on one route, and it’ll additionally add a brand new one altogether. Later this 12 months, the airline will launch direct service from Johannesburg (JNB) and Cape City (CPT) to São Paulo (GRU).

This can be a significantly fascinating improvement since South African Airways took again to the skies in 2021 after a interval of economic turbulence.

South African Airways Launches New São Paulo Routes

In a while this 12 months, South African Airways will start the primary long-haul transatlantic service in over three years. The South African provider hasn’t flown to South America because the onset of the pandemic in 2020, and likewise confronted some monetary difficulties that included a enterprise rescue plan.

Actually, these routes will change into the primary that the airline will fly outdoors of Africa since returning to the skies in 2021.

On October 31, 2023, South African Airways will start a twice-weekly service from Cape City (CPT) to São Paulo (GRU). At the moment, the flights are scheduled to function on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

The flight instances are as follows:

• SA 226, Cape City (CPT) to São Paulo (GRU), departing at 12:55pm and arriving at 4:35pm
• SA 227, São Paulo (GRU) to Cape City (CPT), departing at at 6:05pm and arriving at 6:40am the following day

The westbound flight to São Paulo runs at round 8 hours and 40 minutes, whereas the in a single day service to Cape City is about at 7 hours and 35 minutes.

On November 6, 2023, South African Airways will resume its service between Johannesburg (JNB) and São Paulo (GRU). Previous to the pandemic, the airline supplied every day flights on this route; nevertheless, it seems that this cadence can be decreased to twice-weekly on Mondays and Thursdays.

The flight instances are as follows:

• SA 222, Johannesburg (JNB) to São Paulo (GRU), departing at 11:20am and arriving at 4:15pm
• SA 223, São Paulo (GRU) to Johannesburg (JNB), departing at at 5:45pm and arriving at 7:45am the following day

The westbound flight to São Paulo runs at round 9 hours and 55 minutes, whereas the in a single day service to Johannesburg will final 9 hours. 

It seems that the airline will function its Airbus A340-300 on these route, which is at present the one such plane in its fleet. Passengers can select from financial system and lie-flat enterprise class cabins.

The flights can be found to be booked all through the schedule. 

Reserving South African Airways’s São Paulo Routes with Aeroplan

In case you’d prefer to ebook a visit to South Africa from North America utilizing Aeroplan factors, most routings require you to undergo Europe or different African hubs. United presents direct routes to South Africa; nevertheless, the award availability for these is sort of sparse.

With the launch of those two new routes, it opens up the likelihood to go to South Africa by means of South America. 

The space between Johannesburg (JNB) and São Paulo (GRU) is roughly 4,630 miles, and the space between Cape City (CPT) and São Paulo (GRU) is roughly 3,943 miles.

In case you had been to simply ebook a flight between São Paulo and both Johannesburg or Cape City utilizing Aeroplan factors, you’d need to seek the advice of the hardly ever used “Between Atlantic and South America zones” part of the Aeroplan Flight Reward Chart.

Economic system flights on both route worth out at 45,000 Aeroplan factors, and enterprise class flights worth out at 80,000 Aeroplan factors.

Oddly sufficient, there doesn’t look like any financial system seats out there; nevertheless, 4 enterprise class seats can be found on most dates.

Taking this a step additional, in the event you’re capable of finding pricing on the decrease finish of the dynamic spectrum on an Air Canada enterprise class flight from Toronto to São Paulo, you possibly can add a stopover in Brazil en path to South Africa for a complete of 115,000 Aeroplan factors in enterprise class.

And to take this a step additional, you possibly can take a look at flying from North America to South Africa by way of Brazil, after which proceed onwards to Australia by way of Mauritius with Air Mauritius. Take into account that you possibly can add a visit any vacation spot alongside the best way, too.

Whereas these routes probably gained’t transfer the needle for a lot of North American travellers, it presents one other fascinating technique to get to South Africa that doesn’t contain flying via Europe, Addis Ababa, or Cairo. 

Conclusion

South African Airways has introduced its plans to renew service on the route between Johannesburg (JNB) and São Paulo (GRU), in addition to introduce a brand new route from Cape City (CPT) to São Paulo (GRU). 

Each routes can be up and operating by early November 2023, and can be found to be booked with money or factors.

It’s nice to see South African Airways start to revive its transcontinental flights after sticking near residence for the previous few years. Hopefully, we’ll see much more routes restored within the close to future.