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Guest Blog: First hand perspective on airlines in South Africa

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Logos of different South African airlines

Logos of different South African airlines. Image made by Kyle Hwang.

GUEST BLOG (By Kyle Hwang,  intro by David): From time to time I will have guest bloggers talk about something they specialize in. Recently I was connected with Kyle who is an 18 year old student living in Pretoria, South Africa and attending University of Pretoria studying BSc Actuarial and Financial Mathematics.

He enjoys plane spotting, even though the closest major airport is OR Tambo, which is a 45 minute drive. When he has free time, he loves designing airline liveries and has quite the collection.  Here are his thoughts on airlines in South Africa, in his own words:

So you might think that South Africa is a rainbow nation and not ready to host a World Cup. But either way, it has a rather rich and diverse aviation world. Here’s a quick look at the airlines

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS (SAA):

South African Airways  is the national flag carrier of South Africa. SAA is one of six airlines in the world to fly to all continents of the world. Clearly the dominant airline at OR Tambo International Airport, their fortress. SAA has a 4 star Skytrax rating and is also a member of Star Alliance.

Besides the multi coloured Ndizani livery that bought the national Olympic team to Atlanta in 1996, the airline has not had a single special livery except the Star Alliance planes. Oddly enough, SAA is also not the official airline of the FIFA World Cup.

SAA is however pretty infamous on their home turf. Rivals Kulula.com have made SAA pay several anti-competitive fines. SAA was also blamed for the shut down of Nationwide Airlines.

SAA CEO’s have also not had one of the best rides. Andre Viljoen is generally a nuisance in the public’s eye, receiving many letters to retire. Viljoen was however the pioneer of SAA’s Airbus fleet refurbishment program. Khaya Ngqula, Viljoen’s predecessor had to retire because of mismanagement (fraud in my opinion!). He has also been the one taking credit for Viljoen’s Airbus program which proved to be quite successful.

Current CEO Siza Mzimela seems to bring the airline some hope. Former CEO of South African Express (SAA’s strategic partner) may restore the airline to their former glory (SAA won the best Business class seat award in 2004 and 2nd best Business class in 2005).

SOUTH AFRICAN EXPRESS (SAX)

Having revamped their logo recently, SAX is having a much better independent-from-Mother-SAA feel. You can consider SAX as a Southwest/Frontier African equivalent. SAX offers their passengers meal boxes on their domestic flights but here comes the catch- your paying sky rocket fees for a LCC…

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRLINK

The Hummingbirds is what I call them. They literally crashed into a school ground last year and had 3 accidents in a time span of 4 months. With the possibility of the airline closing down, Airlink employees quickly wrote some comments on Facebook hoping that it would save their airline. As a result, more journalists pointed fingers to Airlink’s then rapidly shrinking reputation. Will The Hummingbirds ever be successful? If the day arrives when SAA brings SAX and Airlink back under their wing.

MANGO

You cannot miss Mango’s B737-800 from the ground. They are mango coloured! Mango is SAA’s response to the flood of low cost carriers (LCC) in South Africa. Mango took SAA’s cabin and put Mango logos all over it, like a real cheap LCC.

Also, their inflight magazine is called “Juice.”

1TIME.CO.ZA

If it wasn’t for their sponsor planes, you could also spot 1time from the ground. The are red, hot red! The first time I flew 1time (1time.aero back then) I flew the Nando’s plane. It was red and decorated with Nando’s chicken catch phrases. (“This plane flies at 30,000 feet and 60,000 chicken feet”). 1time’s planes now consists of the Avis, Pushkin Vodka (not for sale to persons under 18!), the Smiley Plane and Go Zanzibar. “More nice, less price,” is their slogan.

KULULA AIRLINES

Definitely one of the success stories of South African Aviation. Flying 101 has caught international attention and even on Airline Reporter. Kulula is actually a British Airways Comair initiative that has bought the spark back into the LCC industry. Kulula has also been voted best LCC to Africa.

Their liveries include Flying 101 of course, Jetsetter, Camoplane, Zippy plane, da udder plane, THIS WAY UP and 3 World cup celebrating planes sponsored by Europcar.

Kulula was asked by FIFA to remove the “Unofficial National carrier of the You-know-what” titles because for copyright infringements.

BRITISH AIRWAYS

What?! An European carrier in the midst of South African unknowns? Comair operates plenty of domestic flights for BA. The only catch is that your are bound to be flying some old 737 that makes a lot of noise.

So hopefully when you watch the soccer on TV you will remember that South Africa also has a pretty rich aviation industry!

British Airways Club Suite Business Class, London Heathrow to New York JFK

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If you’re the historian type of AvGeek, you may remember that British Airways was a pioneer of lie-flat business class seats. In the early 2000s, it rolled out the groundbreaking fully-flat Club World seat across its long-haul fleet. Club World lasted for over 20 years. But, in more recent years, other airlines pulled ahead with more competitive business class products.

A photo from a 2017 trip in Club World on an A380

I enjoyed my time in Club World “classic” back in 2017, but I was even more excited to try out its successor: Club Suites. Over the past few years, in an effort to catch up to the cutting edge, BA rolled out the new suite-style seat across much of its long-haul fleet. On paper, it checks a lot of the boxes you’d want in a new seat: universal direct aisle access, privacy doors, and fresh tech.

I got to fly Club Suite on a 777-200ER from London Heathrow to New York JFK. I can confirm, in most of the ways that matter, it delivers.

Read on for a photo and video walkthrough of the highlights, including the ground experience at LHR, the seat design, and the inflight service. And don’t forget the usual window-seat views.

Previewing JFK’s New Terminal 6

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At long last, New York’s major airports are getting some much-needed upgrades. We’ve already written about some of them, like LaGuardia’s rebuilt Terminal B, JFK’s upcoming new Terminal One, and Newark’s replacement Terminal A.

Skybridges at LaGuardia Terminal B
JFK’s new Terminal One (rendering)
Newark’s new Terminal A

Out of the multiple megaprojects that are underway, few are bigger than JFK’s Terminal 6, slated to open in the first half of next year. The team behind the $4.2 billion project invited us to join a tour of the active construction site. We loved the behind-the-scenes look at a major terminal coming together, and we came away with a better understanding of what flyers can expect once it is completed.

There will be a HUGE passenger experience boost compared with JFK’s older terminals. T6 will showcase JFK’s status as a world airport, hosting long-haul international airlines from multiple continents along with a few domestic and low-cost airlines. The building will sport plenty of high-tech features, some for the sake of improved passenger experience, and others boosting the sustainability and efficiency of behind-the-scenes operations. Importantly there will be plenty to keep people entertained, including a standout list of lounges, outposts of multiple famous NYC eateries, and some great planespotting potential.

Read on for more of what you can expect when JFK’s Terminal 6 opens in a few months.

JFK’s TWA Hotel: A Night’s Stay With Some Serious AvGeek Appeal

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Flying is usually part of a larger trip, but there are some occasions where aviation IS the main destination. Think airshows, aviation museums, aircraft factories, and the like. Included in that category are the select few hotels out there that are major AvGeek sights in their own right. We’ve written about a few of them, like LAX’s H Hotel and the Excel Hotel at Tokyo Haneda. But maybe the biggest name in the game is the TWA Hotel at New York JFK International Airport.

We wrote about the TWA Hotel in a pair of stories back in 2019 — one about the hotel itself, and one about the TWA Silver Wings reunion held there. We had a blast during that visit but didn’t actually spend a night at the hotel. Making a return for an overnighter was on our to-do list, and recently we got a chance.

Join us as we put on our HotelReporter hats and explore everything that this one-of-a-kind terminal-turned-hotel has to offer. We’ll walk you through the highlights, including Eero Saarinen’s architectural masterpiece, exhibits on TWA’s golden age, a rooftop pool with a runway view, and a bar onboard a real Lockheed Constellation.

Read on, and then decide if this place earns a spot on your personal to-do list.

Window Seat Views and More: Highlights From Our YouTube Channel

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Let’s be honest: window seat views are the best part of flying. We try to include plenty of photos in our stories. But did you know we have a YouTube channel with videos of some great inflight moments?

We’ve got takeoff views! We’ve got landing views! We even let some new airport terminals get a moment in the limelight. All in all we’ve got plenty to keep an AvGeek like you entertained.

In this story we’re compiling some of the more recent highlights from our channel. Those include an upper-deck A380 takeoff in Australia, views from both ends of the world’s longest flight, and a full-length feature on the world’s best planespotting hotel.

Read on for the full list!