South African Airlines flight to Perth: 60 year is a reason to celebrate

South African Airways has commemorated the 60^th anniversary of its first flight into Perth, Western Australia, holding an industry event in Perth last night to mark the occasion.

According to SAA’s Country Manager for Australasia, Tim Clyde-Smith, the first scheduled flight of the airline from Johannesburg’s Jan Smuts Airport to Perth took place on November 25, 1957.

“SAA’s initial services used a 65-seat Douglas DC-7B aircraft with flights operating every fortnight. The flight took more than 21 hours in the air, excluding stops, making it a very long journey indeed,” Tim said.

“SA280 (the same code we use after 60 years) left Jan Smuts on a Monday, stopping in Mauritius then the Cocos Islands before flying onto Perth. It took over six hours to fly from Johannesburg to Mauritius, 9 hours from Mauritius to Cocos Islands and another 6 hours from Cocos to Perth. The return flight (SA 281) left Perth for South Africa on Wednesdays,” he said

“Due to strong headwinds, the return trip took even longer, meaning total flying time in those days for both ways could be up to 43 hours. Today, total flying time is less than half that using our A340 aircraft.”

“SAA was the first foreign airline to fly into Perth and over the last 60 years we have seen huge advances in air travel and in the history of our two countries. Today SAA is the only airline offering daily direct flights between Perth and Johannesburg.”

“We’d like to acknowledge the many thousands of people who have travelled with us over that time, who have continued to support us through the years and who have made SAA Africa’s leading airline,” Tim said.

“We’d also like to acknowledge our staff, particularly our teams in Perth and Sydney, who have worked tirelessly to make SAA such an effective airline on the Africa route, as well as the travel industry and all our suppliers who have supported us.”

“Interest in South Africa by recreational, business and VFR travellers remains very high and as we are continuing to see high demand for our services on the “Wallaby Route”.

“SAA now flies daily from Perth to South Africa connecting through to the biggest route network on the African continent. We serve the east coast of Australia though our codeshare partnership with Virgin Australia while New Zealand is served through our partner Air New Zealand. Today our network includes Africa as well as onward connections to South America, Europe and the United States, offering a great alternative to the traditional “Kangaroo Route”.”

“As SAA continues to enjoy strong traffic on the Wallaby Route and with a new CEO and Board at the airline, we’re very confident about the future as we serve more and more Australians who want to visit Africa and beyond,” Tim concluded.