South African Airways airlifts over three million Nigerians in 20 years

Since its commencement of non stop direct flights into Nigeria 20 years ago, South African Airways (SAA) has airlifted over 3million passengers on the route.

This is just as the Sister African country has insisted that Nigeria operations ranked amongst Its most profitable routes saying the airline would continue supporting the destination by improving the overall customer experience and exploring new opportunities.

Speaking on the twenty years of the airline’s foray into Nigeria in Lagos, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Vuyani Jawara while describing the Nigerian market as important, added that the market had shown commitment to the SAA brand.

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“This is a market that has shown a lot of commitment to the South African brand. We are also prepared to improve on our service. We have also brought aircraft with iconic business. We will continue to improve and look for ways to increase our presence in Nigeria”. Jarana while recalling the critical role Nigeria played during the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, said the airline was deployed to promote ease of movement and trade relations between the two countries.

He used the occasion to talk on the effort being made by the South African government to ease the difficulties being faced by Nigerians to obtain South African visa which he said will promote tourism between the two countries.

SAA, one of the leading airlines in the sub-Saharan Africa, had it first flight into Nigeria on December 4, 1998 almost immediately after the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between the two countries was signed.