South African Airways
IATASA ICAOSAA
- Founded
- 24 July 1929, (as Union Airways)
- Callsign
- SPRINGBOK
- Headquarters
- Airways Park, O. R. Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
- Hubs and bases
- O. R. Tambo International Airport
What they fly
- — 186
- Airbus A320-200 15
- Airbus A330-300 2
- Airbus A340-300 2
Sub-fleet numbers as listed on Wikipedia. Check a registration to see the individual airframe. Aircraft search
About the airline
South African Airways (SAA; Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens, SAL) is the flag carrier of South Africa. Founded in 1929 as Union Airways it later rebranded to South African Airways in 1934. As of February 2026, SAA flies to 17 destinations, operating a fleet of 19 aircraft (with plans to increase its fleet size to 21). SAA is headquartered in Airways Park at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and operates a hub-and-spoke network, serving 13 destinations in Africa and two intercontinental destinations to Perth, Australia and São Paulo, Brazil. The carrier joined Star Alliance in April 2006, making it the first African carrier to sign with one of the three major airline alliances. The airline entered voluntary business rescue in December 2019 as a result of financial difficulties, and suspended all operations the following year. In June 2021, the South African government announced that SAA would be partially privatised in a Strategic Equity Partnership (SEP) transaction with the Takatso Consortium, which would hold a 51% controlling stake and 49% remaining with the State. After almost three years of protracted negotiations, the government terminated the SEP with Takatso, reverting back to…
This summary is adapted from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence. Fleet size and other details are taken from the same article unless a source is shown against them.