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South African Airways will return to Perth in April. After a four-year break, the airline will resume direct Perth-Johannesburg flights from 28 April 2024.
If you have Velocity points and you’d like to fly to South Africa, this is excellent news. Flights are now on sale, and there is reward seat availability in both Economy and Business Class on most flights!
The Perth-Johannesburg route hasn’t been served since Qantas ended its short-lived service in March 2023. South African Airways will not only restore non-stop service between the two cities, but the increased competition could also bring down airfares.
Qantas currently flies direct from Sydney to Johannesburg using Boeing 787s, although this will become an Airbus A380 route from September 2024.
South African Airways’ Perth-Johannesburg schedule
South African Airways will initially fly three times per week between Perth and Johannesburg when it resumes services using an Airbus A340-300. This aircraft has 38 Business seats in a 2-2-2 layout and 215 Economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration.
The airline had initially planned to run a daytime flight between Perth and Johannesburg, departing at 2.40pm. But South African Airways has since revised its schedule, which now mirrors its pre-COVID timings.
This is the revised schedule:
- SA281 Perth 23:50 – Johannesburg 04:45 (next day) – Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays
- SA280 Johannesburg 20:55 – Perth 12:20 (next day) – Tuesdays, Thursdays & Sundays
South African Airways currently has just one Airbus A340 aircraft (ZS-SXF) in its fleet. At the moment, this jet is primarily operating flights from Johannesburg to Abidjan via Accra. Currently, South African’s only other long-haul destinations are Lagos and Sao Paulo which are served by the airline’s two Airbus A330s.
South African has hinted that it may upgrade its Perth route in the future to an Airbus A330 or one of its new Airbus A350s.
The South African flag carrier cut almost all of its routes in 2020 due to a combination of financial difficulties and the COVID-19 pandemic. But it has slowly been rebuilding its international network in recent times.
How to book a seat using Velocity points
South African Airways is both a Star Alliance member and a partner of Virgin Australia. This means you can redeem Virgin Australia Velocity points – or use any Star Alliance frequent flyer program – to book South African Airways flights.
We’re currently seeing up to three Business Class and four Economy reward seats on many South African Airways flights between Perth and Johannesburg!
Although you can redeem Velocity points on South African Airways, you won’t be able to book on the Virgin Australia website. Instead, you would need to call the Velocity Membership Contact Centre between 07:30-22:30 (AEDT) on 13 18 75.
You could expect to pay 42,000 Velocity points + ~$87 in taxes for a one-way Economy Reward seat from Perth to Johannesburg. A Business Class seat costs 78,000 Velocity points plus taxes, one-way.
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You can even connect onwards from Johannesburg to destinations such as Durban or Victoria Falls for no extra Velocity points!
Don’t live in Perth? You can redeem your Velocity points for a reward seat to Perth on Virgin Australia and connect from there onto the South African Airways flight.
Having trouble finding and booking reward seats?
Our Frequent Flyer Concierge is here to help!
