Three years after its last transatlantic flight, South African Airways has plans to restore service on one route, and it will also add a new one altogether. Later this year, the airline will launch direct service from Johannesburg (JNB) and Cape Town (CPT) to São Paulo (GRU).

This is a particularly interesting development since South African Airways took back to the skies in 2021 after a period of financial turbulence.

South African Airways Launches New São Paulo Routes

Later on this year, South African Airways will begin the first long-haul transatlantic service in over three years. The South African carrier hasn’t flown to South America since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, and also faced some financial difficulties that included a business rescue plan.

In fact, these routes will become the first that the airline will fly outside of Africa since returning to the skies in 2021.

On October 31, 2023, South African Airways will begin a twice-weekly service from Cape Town (CPT) to São Paulo (GRU). Currently, the flights are scheduled to operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

The flight times are as follows:

• SA 226, Cape Town (CPT) to São Paulo (GRU), departing at 12:55pm and arriving at 4:35pm
• SA 227, São Paulo (GRU) to Cape Town (CPT), departing at at 6:05pm and arriving at 6:40am the next day

The westbound flight to São Paulo runs at around 8 hours and 40 minutes, while the overnight service to Cape Town is set at 7 hours and 35 minutes.

On November 6, 2023, South African Airways will resume its service between Johannesburg (JNB) and São Paulo (GRU). Prior to the pandemic, the airline offered daily flights on this route; however, it appears that this cadence will be reduced to twice-weekly on Mondays and Thursdays.

The flight times are as follows:

• SA 222, Johannesburg (JNB) to São Paulo (GRU), departing at 11:20am and arriving at 4:15pm
• SA 223, São Paulo (GRU) to Johannesburg (JNB), departing at at 5:45pm and arriving at 7:45am the next day

The westbound flight to São Paulo runs at around 9 hours and 55 minutes, while the overnight service to Johannesburg will last nine hours. 

It appears that the airline will operate its Airbus A340-300 on these route, which is currently the only such aircraft in its fleet. Passengers can choose from economy and lie-flat business class cabins.

The flights are available to be booked throughout the schedule. 

Booking South African Airways’s São Paulo Routes with Aeroplan

If you’d like to book a trip to South Africa from North America using Aeroplan points, most routings require you to go through Europe or other African hubs. United offers direct routes to South Africa; however, the award availability for those is quite sparse.

With the launch of these two new routes, it opens up the possibility to visit South Africa by way of South America. 

The distance between Johannesburg (JNB) and São Paulo (GRU) is roughly 4,630 miles, and the distance between Cape Town (CPT) and São Paulo (GRU) is roughly 3,943 miles.

If you were to just book a flight between São Paulo and either Johannesburg or Cape Town using Aeroplan points, you’d have to consult the rarely used “Between Atlantic and South America zones” section of the Aeroplan Flight Reward Chart.

Economy flights on either route price out at 45,000 Aeroplan points, and business class flights price out at 80,000 Aeroplan points.

Oddly enough, there doesn’t appear to be any economy seats available; however, four business class seats are available on most dates.

Taking this a step further, if you’re able to find pricing at the lower end of the dynamic spectrum on an Air Canada business class flight from Toronto to São Paulo, you could add a stopover in Brazil en route to South Africa for a total of 115,000 Aeroplan points in business class.

And to take this a step further, you could look at flying from North America to South Africa via Brazil, and then continue onwards to Australia via Mauritius with Air Mauritius. Keep in mind that you could add a stopover at any destination along the way, too.

While these routes likely won’t move the needle for many North American travellers, it offers another interesting way to get to South Africa that doesn’t involve flying through Europe, Addis Ababa, or Cairo. 

Conclusion

South African Airways has announced its plans to resume service on the route between Johannesburg (JNB) and São Paulo (GRU), as well as introduce a new route from Cape Town (CPT) to São Paulo (GRU). 

Both routes will be up and running by early November 2023, and are available to be booked with cash or points.

It’s great to see South African Airways begin to restore its transcontinental flights after sticking close to home for the past few years. Hopefully, we’ll see even more routes restored in the near future.