South African Airways will cut flights to nine international cities and all domestic services except Johannesburg to Cape Town as the embattled state-owned carrier scales back to stay in business.
The airline will stop flying to destinations including Hong Kong, Munich and Sao Paulo at the end of the month. African cities such as the Angolan capital, Luanda and Abidjan in Ivory Coast are also affected, while the vast majority of local flights will be left to low-cost unit, Mango.
Administrators took control of SAA in December and have been drawing up a survival plan. The unprofitable airline is accelerating a move to cut jobs alongside the reduction in routes. In addition to this, the sale of some assets is also under consideration.
However, International services that will be retained are those between Johannesburg and Frankfurt, London, New York, Perth and Washington D.C.