The current rapid increase for flights between the two countries was thought to have been the ideal location for SAA to situate its restart. However, Chief Commercial Officer of the SAA Simon Newton-Smith stated, in an interview with Biznews founder Alec Hogg, that restarting normal operations are not as easy as it seems. ‘You know, restarting an airline is tough. Doing it in the middle of Covid-19, where your markets are generally down anywhere between 50% and 70%, adds an extra layer of complexity to the mix.’ When asked why SAA has opted to do domestic flights and not long flights, Smith said that he took a page out of the ‘Covid-19 playbook’ and predicted that the quickest route to the resumption of normal operations would be to start with domestic flights and expand from there.
SOURCE: THE SOUTH AFRICAN