SOUTH African Airways (SAA) will cease its operations between Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi from 1 March, it said on Wednesday. The airline got the go ahead from National Treasury after applying for permission to terminate operations on the route.

“The decision follows extensive analysis and efforts to make the route sustainable over a much shorter period than anticipated,” said the national carrier.

Since October last year, the airline implemented ad hoc cancellations on the route in order to meet the different demand patterns.

“SAA considered capacity adjustment on this route as part of its ongoing business evaluation, which includes exploring a number of options to keep operations commercially viable. The decision to first reduce capacity was intended to strike a balance between the interests of our customers by providing a service, albeit a limited one, and to avoid increased operating costs associated with a daily service. The anticipated high demand simply did not materialise,” said SAA Acting CEO Musa Zwane.

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