Under CEO Andre Viljoen, South African Airways requested Airbus to overhaul its fleet at a cost of US$3.5 billion in March 2002, taking advantage of a slump in the order books of Airbus. With the airline industry staggering after the September 11 attacks in the USA, new aircraft orders either being deferred, or cancelled altogether. With a fleet of aging 747-200’s and 300’s the airline desperately needed new aircraft. SAA was in a buyers market and with the demise of Swissair, which had A340-600s about to be delivered, made a huge impact on Airbus clinching the SAA deal. As part of the deal, SAA took over the delivery of the A640-600’s destined for the struggling Swiss carrier, in a massive order that covered 11 A319s, 22 A320s, nine A340-600s and six A340-300s. The new Airbus A319s joined the fleet replacing the ageing Boeing 737-200 fleet, and augmenting the Boeing 737-800s, although the A320 order was postponed before any aircraft were delivered.
Later that year, South African Airways made a successful bid for a 49% stake in Air Tanzania. The move highlighted SAA’s wish to gain a foothold in the East African region. The bid was worth $20 million, and was SAA’s first acquisition of a foreign airline.The merger failed in 2006 when new SAA management felt that the arrangement was a fruitless mistake made by previous SAA managers, and shares were sold back to Tanzanian government.
In 2001, South African Airways won the Best Cargo Airline to Africa award from Air Cargo News – (even though South African is mainly a passenger airline) – and South African Airways signed a code sharing agreement with Nigeria Airways to provide service from the United States to Lagos using South African Airways B-747s. (This codeshare agreement is no longer in effect, and SAA’s flights to/from the United States no longer stop in Nigeria.) The airline earned a spot on the Zagat Survey’s top ten international airlines list, opened a new website and named Andre Viljoen as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Early 2004 the three global alliances, One World, Skyteam and Star were all knocking on SAA’s door. In March the airline announced its application to join Star Alliance. The airline alliance accepted its application in June, with SAA joining as a full member in April 2006, but the codeshare agreement was terminated between South African Airways and Delta Air Lines because of the rivalry between Star Alliance and SkyTeam, of which Delta Air Lines was a founding member. In recognition, one of the A340-600 and 737-800 were each painted in Star Alliance livery.
In July 2004, Andre Viljoen resigned as CEO of SAA, the media speculated he resigned due to the heavy losses SAA suffered in a R6-billion hedging loss. In August 2004, Khaya Ngqula was appointed as CEO of SAA. A new chairman, Professor Jakes Gerwel, was appointed in the same month.
In July 2005, SAA started a four times weekly Johannesburg-Accra-Washington, D.C. service with a Boeing 747-400. Service was increased to daily flights in July 2006, and the 747-400 was replaced by an Airbus A340-600. Also, because SAA could not obtain rights to fly passengers between Ghana and the US, the stop in Accra was replaced with a stop in Dakar. Accra will remain an SAA destination, however. In 2007, SAA retired the last of its 747-400 fleet; two were reactivated in 2008 for flights to Lagos, and by 2010 Luanda as well. SAA retired them again finally by the end of October 2010.
South African Airways - A Complete History 