The South African Airways (SAA) has announced that it will be removing return daily flights from Maputo, Mozambique, from its schedule at the beginning of December.

SAA Interim Executive for Commercial, Simon Newton-Smith, clarified that the decision was taken as a result of a lack of uptake in the route.

“When SAA resumed operations at the end of September, we committed to constantly monitor passenger volumes and revenue on all routes. Demand on this service has not met expectations and for the time being, this change is in line with our strategy of being a transparent management and fiscally responsible,” Newton-Smith said.

He said passengers who hold tickets to travel will be accommodated on Mozambique Airlines or they can opt to receive a credit voucher which will be offered in the original form of payment.

Those who no longer wish to travel will be able to cancel their booking and are expected to receive a full refund.

“No airline likes to cancel flights but we are committed to success and sustainability of our airline, whilst we meet our valued customer requirements. We apologise to customers for any inconvenience and full assistance will be provided to all customers holding an SAA ticket on flights that are withdrawn from the schedule. Customers should refer to issuing offices for assistance,” he said.

The airline says those customers who used travel agents to book flights should contact them directly and tickets that were bought online or through the SAA call centre can be reconciled through contacting the SAA Trade Support via e-mail at Tradesupport1@flysaa.com.

SAA will also not be operating its return flights to Accra in Ghana on Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Flights to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo will not be operational on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

The airline said flights to Lusaka, Zambia will operate for five days a week from December 1 instead of seven days a week.

Source: South African Government News Agency