After fruitful engagements aimed at rebuilding essential government and tourism industry relationships in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town Tourism, the City of Cape Town and South African Airways announced there will be direct flights between the Mother City and São Paulo, Brazil.
The flights will start from October 31 and will be followed by a Johannesburg-São Paulo route going live from November 6.
According to the partners, these routes symbolise SAA's dedication to rekindling the “South to South Trade and Travel Corridor”, cultivating stronger relations between South Africa and Brazil.
The interim CEO of South African Airways, Professor John Lamola, said the airline is overjoyed that São Paulo is its first international destination since the airline successfully emerged from an intensive Business Rescue process and Covid-19 lockdown.
“It also marks the return of our long-haul service out of Cape Town. Our decision to begin the relaunch of our long-haul service with São Paulo was taken based on a rigorous analysis of the viability of the route.
“Sustainability has been at the heart of SAA’s approach since our restart. The teams at SAA are working hard behind the scenes to gear our operations for this much-anticipated route launch to South America,” said Lamola.
Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, said the organisation is enormously proud of SAA's initiative in the introduction of these direct flights, which marks a substantial step in reinforcing connections between the destinations.
“SAA's proactive role in boosting tourism and trade is commendable and speaks volumes of the effective collaboration we share,” Duminy.
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