Following months of preparation after exiting business rescue, South African Airways resumed both domestic and regional Africa service on Sept. 23. The carrier’s first scheduled flight took off from O.R. Tambo International in Johannesburg to Cape Town International. Flights also started to five African capitals — Accra (ACC), Kinshasa (FIH), Harare (HRE), Lusaka (LUN) and Maputo (MPM).

“This week is a proud and significant one for SAA and its staff as well as all South African citizens. Our journey back to the skies has not been easy and I pay tribute to our dedicated workforce in all areas of the business all of whom have and are putting in long hours ahead of this day,” said Thomas Kgokolo, interim CEO, SAA. “People in every facet of the business want nothing more than for SAA to succeed and for us to build a new airline based on safety and exemplary customer service.”

Emirates and SAA also reactivated their long-standing partnership, kicking off with a reciprocal commercial arrangement. The agreement includes SAA-coded and Emirates-operated routes between South Africa and Dubai on a single ticket, allowing travelers to seamlessly check bags, beginning Oct. 1. Emirates will place the SAA code on major trunk routes between South Africa and Dubai.

“As SAA starts to rebuild, the long-standing partnership with Emirates is both valued and critical to our future growth plans. We share the same vision of seamless, efficient,

and excellent customer service with connectivity to multiple destinations,” said Kgokolo. “We are confident this partnership will lead to the addition of more route and destination options, particularly across Africa as we both recognise the economic, trade and tourism potential the continent has and our key role as enablers.”