New international flight launches in South Africa

South African Airways has launched its new flight to Tanzania’s capital, Dar es Salaam, which kicked off on Monday, 20 January 2025.
The carrier said this marks an important relaunch of the flight under its new operations and will boost economic growth.
The flights will run daily between Johannesburg and Dar es Salaam. They will cater to both direct and connecting passengers.
Joburg to Dar es Salaam
- Departs: OR Tambo International Airport @ 22h00
- Arrives: Julius Nyerere International Airport @ 02h30
Dar es Salaam to Joburg
- Departs: Julius Nyerere International Airport @ 05h10
- Arrives: OR Tambo International Airport @ 07h55
Dar es Salaam is one hour ahead of Johannesburg.
Dar es Salaam is East Africa’s largest city by population size and is an important regional economic and logistical hub, as well as a gateway to popular tourist attractions in the region, SAA said.
South Africa, meanwhile, accounts for a significant proportion of foreign direct investment in Tanzania, with the two countries sharing trade in agricultural products, precious metals, chemicals and machinery.
SAA interim CEO, Professor John Lamola said the new flight also strengthen’s the airlines plans to boost its presence across the African continent and beyond.
Air freight executive Nozipho Mbatha said that, given the airline’s recent relaunch, regional routes are currently SAA’s most successful and best-performing lines—so focusing on expanding these is in the airline’s interests.
This would set the carrier up for greater success in establishing more international routes beyond the continent, she said.
In November 2024, SAA expanded its services to Harare (Zimbabwe) and Lusaka (Zambia) to 12 flights per week, up from 10 and seven flights a week, respectively.
Flights to Lagos (Nigeria) and Accra (Ghana) have been increased from three to four times a week, while SAA is flying to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) five times a week.
SAA also began flying to the DRC’s mining hub, Lubumbashi.
Outside of Africa, SAA increased its intercontinental flight frequency to Perth in Australia to five weekly flights from 7 January 2025.
The first intercontinental route to Sao Paulo, Brazil was launched in October 2023.
“SAA’s regional network has emerged as a top performer, contributing significantly to the revenue of the SAA Group. More importantly, these regional connections are crucial for the broader economic growth of South Africa,” Lamola said.
The expansion and relaunch of flights on SAA represents a significant turnaround for the airline that, just a few years ago, was in business rescue and facing liquidation.
The state-owned airline, which has been a net drain on government finances for decades, surprised with a a turn to profitability for the 2022/23 financial year.
In November 2024, the group reported a net profit of R252 million – the first time the airline has been in the black since 2012, and a wild swing from the R23.5 billion in losses recorded in the four years prior.
Lamola said that the positive results showed that the airline could move forward as a successful and profitable business that was not reliant on the state
Between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2023, the South African government injected over R38.1 billion into SAA.
While it still needs a capital injection from an equity share partner, the group is looking at a future bringing money in.
In the 2022/23 financial year, SAA operated between 6 to 8 aircraft during the financial year, serving up to 9 destinations.
Since the period ended in March 2023, the airline has increased its routes to 16, with more to come.