South African Airbus A350-900
Taken by @jfk.spotting on Instagram
On the 10th of April, South African Airways sent their Airbus A350-900 registered ZS-SDD to Miami from Cape Town via Dakar. The airline used one of their four A350-K's to operate a repatriation flight. Flight SA4211 was the airlines' first service to Miami in 20 years.
The plane took off at 11:47 local time from the city of Cape Town. ZS-SDD is currently on lease and was previously operated by Hainan Airlines. This aircraft stopped in Dakar, Senegal overnight before arriving after 9 hours at 10:30 Easter Sunday.
South African operated its first flight to Miami from Cape Town in 1992. However, this route only lived until 1998. It stopped due to the airline rebranding and having a new president and CEO appointed, Mr Coleman Andrews. The only remaining routes the airline operates is to New York and Washington DC. The airline codeshares with United and JetBlue to provide connecting flights to Miami and around the US.
The airline have recently grounded 39 of its 44 aircraft. They have decided to use their Airbus A340s along with one Airbus A350 to carry out the remainder of their operating flights. Airbus A340 registered ZS-SNC is operating to Frankfurt recently which is an operation usually undertaken by an Airbus A350. ZS-SND is flying to Lagos, Brussels, Cape Town and Johannesburg. ZS-SNF is going to foreign destinations such as Sao Paulo, Angeles City in the Philippines, Guangzhou and Bangkok. Lastly, ZS-SNG is operating to both London Heathrow and Frankfurt.
It is quite uncanny that the airline decided to use their Airbus A340s over their new Airbus A350s. They use four engines and are a lot less efficient comparing to the A350. The airline is also leasing these A350s and therefore are paying for the aircraft whether they are being flown or not. However, it is great to see these stunning aircraft are still taking to the skies after 17 years in their fleet.
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