.Chief Executive Officer of South African Airways, John Lamola, has reiterated the airline’s commitment to rebuild and reposition itself as Africa’s leading network carrier.
He disclosed this at an exclusive dinner with CEOs of top travel agents and cargo partners in the country in Lagos.
iThey include: Wakanow, Quantum Travels, American Express, Touchdown Travels, and Business Travel Management.
Lamola, at the dinner, noted that the airline has gone from being a restart to rebuilding the airline as the renowned global brand it is known for.
“SAA has grown from being a restart. We are repositioning and rebuilding the airline to survive on its own together with our strategic partners. We have a five years corporate plan of going through a renewal and modernization of our fleet and to elevate our customer experience grounded on our African uniqueness. The aim is to have 50 aircraft in the next three years. We have 20 now and we are expanding carefully,” he said.
Expressing gratitude to the top Travel and Cargo Agents at the forum, Lamola added; “We are consolidating our routes by having more frequencies. Lagos is not just one piece in our network but a very strategic route for us and by March 2026 we will have daily flights to Lagos.
“We also want to connect West Africa with Cape Town because the market demands it. The future going forwards is one of cooperation and holding hands together, ” he assures
During a feedback session, some of the of the travel agents shared their experiences working with SAA for over 20 years.
Femi Adefope, MD, Skylogistics said: “It’s been an interesting time for us. The potential SAA saw in the Nigerian market many years ago still exists today. We are happy that our business is growing and we shall have more flights that will hopefully connect us to Cape Town. I am a diehard supporter of SAA and we will give you the support that I required.”
He added that the team of Kemi Leke-Bamtefa and Ohis Ehimiaghe are knowledgeable and highly respected in the industry.
Yinka Folami, President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) welcomed the CEO to Nigeria and expressed delight with the impressive performance of SAA in the last financial year by turning profit.
He added: “On behalf of NANTA we want to say in all area of our industry concerns, SAA has no fault in any.” Mr. Folami however urged closing the gaps between Nigerians and South Africans by relaxing the visa regimes on both ends in order to boost more trade and tourism between both countries.
Also adding her voice to an earlier call made by Prof. Lamola while delivering his address that Nigeria should work towards having a stand at this year’s INDABA Travel Show in Durban, the President of the Nigeria Association of Tour Operators, Bolaji Mustapha, said it was a welcome development and urged the airline to work more closely with the South African Consulate to encourage more leisure travel in the area of visas.
This was also reiterated by Nike Macaulay, MD, Wakanow, who thanked Prof. Lamola for gracing travel community with his presence and noted that the leisure aspect of travel to South Africa has been affected over the years.
She thanked the CEO of SAA for his support to have a Nigerian stand at INDABA as a step in reversing the situation.
SAA’s Regional Manager – Africa, Middle East and Indian Ocean, Mr. Ohis Ehimiaghe thanked the CEO for coming to Lagos and appreciated him for his speech, which according to him, was filled with a lot of inspiring insights and knowledge.
He also thanked all CEOs of the Travel Trade who made time out to attend the dinner.
He commended them for their passion and enthusiasm in driving the industry forward and recognized their commitment to the growth and enhancement of the travel sector.
Kemi Leke-Bamtefa, SAA Country Manager in Nigeria thanked the guests for their support and patronage over the years and stressed that SAA is a network carrier that offers seamless connections to various destinations.
She added that SAA has opened new routes in Southern Africa including Lubumbashi and Tanzania as well as its newly established flights to Perth in Australia. She therefore urged the travel agents to support all the routes in the airline’s network.
