Contact:
Todd Neuman, South African Airways;
Tel: +1-954-769-5111
Email: toddneuman@flysaa.com
Tourism Board Recognizes Airline for its Significant and Continued Investment in Promoting South Africa to the North American Market
Fort Lauderdale, FL (April 4, 2014) – South African Airways (SAA), Africa’s most awarded airline, was once again honored as South African Tourism’s “Top Producing Airline” at the 5th Annual Ubuntu Awards in New York City on April 1st. South African Tourism’s Ubuntu Awards recognize those travel partners that consistently invest significant resources to promoting South Africa in the North American market.
South African Tourism cited the airline’s investments on multiple fronts, including continual education and travel incentives to the travel professional community, ongoing marketing efforts to the direct consumer market through advertising, online marketing, social media and public relations, competitive fare offers and affordable vacation packages. The airline also strengthened its partnerships with the members of Team South Africa – the South African Embassy, the South African Consulate Generals, Brand South Africa, Wines of South Africa and South African Tourism – by more closely coordinating promotions and key initiatives, such as the transport of the iconic Nelson Mandela statue that now stands before the South African Embassy in Washington, DC. SAA also embarked on a partnership with The Weinstein Company to promote the film “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.”
“We’re exceptionally honored to have earned the Ubuntu Award from South African Tourism. Despite the fact that we are already partners, we do not take for granted the airline’s mission and role of promoting travel to South Africa, as well as proudly upholding the destination’s culture and interests in North America,” said Marc Cavaliere, executive vice president, North America & Alliances for South African Airways. “We will only redouble our efforts in 2014, as SAA celebrates 80 years of operations and South Africa celebrates 20 years of freedom. We look forward to working in lockstep with South African Tourism and Team South Africa to further develop tourism to the destination.”
South African Airways in February marked its 80th anniversary of service, as well as 45 years of service to the United States. South Africa itself will celebrate 20 years of freedom on April 27th, as it commemorates the anniversary of the first democratic elections. SAA will celebrate both milestones throughout the year with continued promotions to the consumer market.
About South African Airways
South African Airways (SAA), Africa’s most awarded airline, operates to 42 destinations worldwide, including daily nonstop flights from New York, and daily direct flights from Washington, DC (via Dakar) to Johannesburg. In its domestic market SAA has an extensive schedule operating 660 flights in total per week between Johannesburg – Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth, from its Johannesburg hub, as well as code-shared flights between Lanseria – Cape Town and Durban. SAA offers more frequencies than any other airline in South Africa. Regionally, SAA offers 26 destinations across the African continent including Abidjan, Accra, Blantyre, Brazzaville, Cotonou, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Douala, Entebbe, Harare, Kinshasa, Lagos, Libreville, Lilongwe, Livingstone, Luanda, Lusaka, Maputo, Mauritius, Nairobi, Ndola, Pointe Noire, Victoria Falls and Windhoek. SAA’s international network creates links to all major continents from South Africa through 11 direct routes and code shares, with daily flights from Johannesburg to London (Heathrow), Frankfurt, Munich, Mumbai, Perth, Hong Kong, Beijing, New York, Washington, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. SAA has codes share agreements with 27 other airlines across the markets it serves, including partnerships with United, US Airways, Air Canada and JetBlue in North America, which offer convenient connections from more than 30 cities to SAA’s flights. SAA’s core business is the provision of passenger airline and cargo transport services together with related services, which are provided through SAA and its four wholly owned subsidiaries: SAA Technical; Mango its low cost carrier; Air Chefs, the catering entity of SAA and South African Travel Centre (SATC). SAA is a Star Alliance member which offers more than 21,900 daily flights to 1,328 airports in 195 countries. SAA is the winner of the 'Best Airline in Africa’ Award in the regional category for eleven consecutive years. Mango and SAA hold the number one and number two successive spots as South Africa’s most on-time airlines. For more information, call 1-800-722-9675, or visit www.flysaa.com.
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