South African national carrier South African Airways (SAA) has resumed its operations in the country after shutting down for two years.

SAA closed down its operations in Kenya following financial challenges occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic

SAA East Africa Regional Manager and Middle East Austin Nyawara confirmed the resumption of their services and disclosed the company was undergoing restructuring.

The South African airline opened a new booking office at Yaya Centre in Nairobi, which will provide flight booking services.

“South African Airways is just reopening its offices in Nairobi after two-years closure. We had closed down because of Covid and the company was undergoing some restructuring. So, this is a new office to serve our customers within Kenya and of course greater East Africa but basically to just show the travelling that the South African Airways is back,” Nyawara said.

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This fresh development succeeds a codeshare deal South African Airways inked with Kenya Airways on flights between Kenya and South Africa to increase the scope, which would allow the two SAA and KQ to sell tickets jointly.

This would allow customers to use KQ and SAA in either airline seamlessly.

Under the deal, SAA will enjoy local and regional KQ destinations such as Mombasa, Kisumu, Dar es Salaam and Entebbe.

According to Nyawara, customers will be able to buy tickets, make reservations and inquiries about travel packages to South Africa and other countries locally.

“Customers can buy tickets from here, they can do their reservations here, they can also make inquiries about travel packages to South Africa, Mauritius and beyond,” Nyawara said.