VIDEO / South African Airways welcomes its first Airbus A350-900

ZS-SDC (ex Hainan Airlines) landed yesterday, October 31st, in Johannesburg coming from Singapore, where it received the airline’s colours. Three more A350s will enter SAA’s fleet by mid-December: one from Hainan Airlines and two leased from Air Mauritius.

SAA’s first A350-900 offers 339 seats, of which 30 are Business Class seats and 309 are Economy Class seats. The first 6 rows in Economy have extra legroom to provide a more comfortable experience, especially on longer flights. The Business Class cabin has lie flat beds and the aircraft offers a modern In-flight Entertainment (IFE) system throughout the cabin. The aircraft will operate on one of SAA’s ultra-long haul routes between Johannesburg and New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK), replacing the Airbus A340-600 on this route and will still be operated on a nonstop basis. As additional aircraft are introduced, more routes will be operated by the Airbus A350-900s.

SAA is set to receive 3 more Airbus A350-900s over a period of 6 weeks, and all four A350s are expected to operate commercially by mid-December following regulatory approvals and training. Aircraft number 2 and 3 are scheduled for arrival during the first week of November and the 4th A350-900 will arrive in early December. SAA will operate the A350 XWBs for 3 years.

The first two (coming from Hainan Airlines) are 9 months old. The last two are brand new and will be delivered to SAA directly from the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France. These two aircraft are sub-leased from Air Mauritius and will also fly with SAA for three years. SAA will achieve approximately 25% lower operating costs (cash) operating the A350-900 XWB, over a 5-year period, compared with some of its four-engine aircraft generation that has similar range and payload capabilities. Main photo: Dillon Chong instagram.com/bluebravest

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