Global Traveler Magazine names South African Airways as Best Airline in Region for 11th consecutive year

News provided by

Dec 16, 2014, 01:00 ET

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Dec. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- South African Airways (SAA) has been, for the 11^th consecutive year, honored by Global Traveler Magazine, as "Best Airline in Africa" in the magazine's annual GT Tested Reader's survey. The magazine presented the award to SAA at its award ceremony held on Dec. 15^th at the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. SAA was recognized by Global Traveler readers for its consistently high service that keeps it in the world-class category and best in the region year after year. SAA also received honorable mention in this year's survey for, "Best Airline for Onboard Service", "Best Flight Attendants" and "Best Airport Lounge".

"We are honored to receive this award and thank Global Traveler and its readers for, once again, selecting South African Airways as the best airline for travel on the African continent," said Marc Cavaliere, Executive Vice President for South African Airways in North America. "SAA continually enhances its products both in the air and on the ground to meet the needs of today's discerning international business travelers and it is gratifying to see that our efforts are being distinguished."

"Congratulations to South African Airways for 11 consecutive wins as, 'Best Airline in Africa' in our annual survey," said Francis X. Gallagher, CEO & Publisher of Global Traveler. "I know from personal experience what an exceptional airline SAA is and it's quite clear that our readers recognize it, as well. From service to product, everything at SAA is first-rate. SAA is not only a GT Tested Reader Survey award winner, but they are also a former 'Airline of the Year' and an inductee into the Global Traveler Hall of Fame. There's really only one option for travel to and within Africa, and that's South African Airways."

South African Airways offers the most flights from the U.S. to South Africa with daily nonstop service from New York-JFK Airport and daily direct service from Washington, DC-Dulles Airport to Johannesburg. From our Johannesburg hub, SAA and our regional airline partners offers convenient flights to over 55 business and leisure destinations throughout the African continent. In 2014, SAA celebrated its 80^th anniversary of service and also accepted the Skytrax World Airline Awards for, "Best Airline Africa" for the 12^th consecutive year and "Best Airline Staff Service Africa" for the third year.

About South African Airways

South African Airways (SAA), Africa's most awarded airline, operates to 40 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 and Sao Paulo. SAA has codes share agreements with 27 other airlines across the markets it serves, including code share partnerships with United, Air Canada and JetBlue in North America, which offer convenient connections from more than 30 cities to SAA's flights. SAA is a Star Alliance member which offers more than 18,500 daily flights to 1,316 airports in 192 countries. SAA is the winner of the Skytrax 'Best Airline in Africa' Award in the regional category for twelve consecutive years and "Best Airline Staff Service in Africa" for the third time. Mango and SAA hold the number one and number two successive spots as South Africa's most on-time airlines.