South African Airways Awarded Top Honor By Biz Mags

Triple Crown of Awards Maintains SAA’s Position 

as Africa’s Most Awarded Airline, and Lands it in Hall of Fame

Fort Lauderdale, FL (Dec. 18, 2013) – South African Airways (SAA) was named Best Airline to Africa by three respected business travel magazines in North America, reaffirming its long-standing position as Africa’s most awarded airline and preferred carrier for business travel to the continent. The triple crown of awards was bestowed in December, after readers of the magazines voted SAA as their favorite airline to Africa.

Premier Traveler Magazine’s readers named South African Airways as “Best Airline to Africa,” and “Best Airline in Africa,” while those of Business Traveler Magazine honored SAA as the “Best Airline to Africa.” The readers of Global Traveler Magazine named SAA as “Best Airline in Africa” for the 10^th consecutive year, which earned South African Airways a spot in the magazine’s coveted Hall of Fame. Each magazine is read by “road warriors” who travel consistently throughout the globe, and have cultivated a true understanding of what it takes to provide a comfortable and convenient travel experience.

“The readers of these three prestigious magazines are truly discriminating and difficult to impress, given their extensive travel to all corners of the globe,” said Marc Cavaliere, executive vice president, North America & Alliances, for South African Airways.  “It is certainly a feather in our cap to be named their favorite airline to the African continent, and to even earn a spot in Global Traveler’s Hall of Fame. We will work hard to continue to earn their loyalty and praise by offering the most convenient schedules and the most comfortable amenities from North America to the African continent.”

About South African Airways

South African Airways (SAA), Africa’s most awarded airline, operates to 42 destinations worldwide, including daily nonstop flights from New York, and daily direct flights from Washington, DC (via Dakar) to Johannesburg. In its domestic market SAA has an extensive schedule operating 660 flights in total per week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth, from its Johannesburg hub, as well as code-shared flights between Lanseria – Cape Town and Durban. SAA offers more frequencies than any other airline in South Africa. Regionally, SAA offers 26 destinations across the African continent including Abidjan, Accra, Blantyre, Brazzaville, Bujumbura, Cotonou, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Douala, Entebbe, Harare, Kigali, Kinshasa, Lagos, Libreville, Lilongwe, Livingstone, Luanda, Lusaka, Maputo, Mauritius, Nairobi, Ndola, Pointe Noire, Victoria Falls and Windhoek. SAA’s international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 11 direct routes and code shares, with daily flights from Johannesburg to London (Heathrow), Frankfurt, Munich, Mumbai, Perth, Hong Kong, Beijing, New York, Washington, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. SAA has codes share agreements with 27 other airlines across the markets it serves, including partnerships with United, US Airways, Air Canada and JetBlue in North America, which offer convenient connections from more than 30 cities to SAA’s flights. SAA’s core business is the provision of passenger airline and cargo transport services together with related services, which are provided through SAA and its four wholly owned subsidiaries: SAA Technical; Mango its low cost carrier; Air Chefs, the catering entity of SAA and South African Travel Centre (SATC). SAA is a Star Alliance member which offers more than 21,900 daily flights to 1,328 airports in 195 countries. SAA is the winner of the 'Best Airline in Africa’ Award in the regional category for eleven consecutive years. Mango and SAA hold the number one and number two successive spots as South Africa’s most on-time airlines. For more information, call 1-800-722-9675, or visit www.flysaa.com.