Gustav Thiel
The recent decision by SAA to cut its direct flights between Cape Town and Miami at the end of January in favour of a link with Atlanta means that travellers will take significantly longer to reach the United States - about 8½ hours longer, in fact.
The shortest SAA link between Cape Town and the US will be via Johannesburg to New York. An extra stop for refuelling at Ilha da Sol in the Cape Verde Islands - a stop the national carrier failed to mention in a series of announcements in recent weeks - will prolong the flight to Atlanta.
Whereas the existing Cape Town-Miami flight takes about 11½ hours, the new route will take in the region of 20 hours - which is only slightly longer than the time it takes to get from Cape Town to the US via Europe using alternative airlines.
The CEO of SAA, Coleman Andrews, told journalists at a press briefing in Cape Town last week that the flight to Atlanta will go via Johannesburg with no additional stop-overs.
But Madelain Roscher, SAA's newly appointed senior manager of Corporate Affairs, told the Cape Times on Sunday that the flight to Atlanta will stop at Ilha da Sol.
This is not to suggest that Andrews was fibbing. Technically - in airline-speak - the touchdown at Ilha da Sol to refuel does not constitute a "stopover".
The bottom line, however, is that Capetonians flying via London to New York will touch down in the US about 30 minutes earlier than those taking the Cape Town-Atlanta route.
Victor Nosi, SAA's vice president of Corporate Services, says the airline does not operate flights via any connecting hub in Europe. He agreed, however, that Capetonians could fly via Europe to New York using other airlines, including British Airways.
Despite Roscher's insistence that a final decision about stopping at Ilha da Sol had already been taken, Nosi denied it on Sunday. He flew to Atlanta on Sunday night "to iron out final details of the flights between South Africa and Atlanta".
SAA has pointed out that, with the Atlanta connection, the airline will have daily access to 834 flights to other US destinations, whereas previously it was possible to link with only 162. Atlanta serves 134 cities in the US, whereas Miami serves only 21 and is mainly geared for the South American market.
A retired SAA pilot on Sunday told the Cape Times, on condition of anonymity, that Anton Richman, the director of operations at Johannesburg International Airport, confirmed last week that all flights to Atlanta would refuel at Ilha da Sol, which SAA has used for this purpose since 1970. Richman could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
Andrews told the Cape Times that the Boeing 747 400 used by SAA could fly directly from Atlanta to Cape Town, but would have to do so with 100 passengers less than the aircraft's capacity.
The decision was taken to fly via Johannesburg to ensure capacity flights as often as possible, according to Andrews.
SAA's lack of candour in disclosing the stop-over at Ilha da Sol follows a week in which Andrews took responsibility for a lack of communication between the airline and tourism and business authorities in Cape Town.
Andrews said SAA neglected to inform these authorities about the fact that Cape Town will be linked to Atlanta at all times, with the stop-over in Johannesburg the only factor that will make the flights longer. The stop-over is sure to anger the Cape Town business community, if only because business travellers will take significantly longer to reach the US.
After Andrews met last week with Mike Fabricius, Rick Taylor and Sheryl Ozinsky, Cape Town's three chief tourism officials, all parties agreed to work together to avoid communication gaps.