South African Airways’ (SAA) initial plans to introduce flights to Mumbai, India has faced delays, due to ongoing challenges with aircraft availability.
According to Travel News, the airline had aimed to launch its Mumbai route in October this year. But, due to difficulties acquiring suitable aircraft, the timeline has been pushed back.
SAA now aims to announce the Mumbai route and open it for sales by July this year, with flights expected to kick off 2026.
SAA to Asia
SAA’s Chief Commercial Officer, Tebogo Tsimane, revealed to Travel News that Mumbai was just one of several Asia routes on their radar.
The airline is considering two, or potentially three, routes in the region, possibly to China, Bangkok and Bali.
However, these will all depend on aircraft availability and route economics.
This past January, SAA acquired two leased Airbus A320 aircraft, sourced from AerCap, an aircraft leasing company, seeing its fleet size increase to 20 planes.
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