The MoU is an extension of the current six-month term leasing deal. Credit: Lukas Wunderlich/ Shutterstock

South African Airways (SAA) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SunExpress, to provide four aircraft, assisting the national carrier’s operations across 2024 and 2025.

The MoU is an extension of the current six-month term leasing deal, which began in October of this year and includes the lease of two Boeing 737-800s as well as maintenance and cockpit staff.

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According to SAA, the additional aircraft will allow them to fulfil increased customer demand during busy seasons.

John Lamola, CEO of SAA emphasised how this will boost flight options for the upcoming peak holiday seasons.

Lamola said: “SunExpress has proven to be an extremely reliable partner for us in the first few months. We are therefore delighted that this valuable partnership will not only be continued but the scope of the partnership expanded to include additional aircraft for our 2024 holiday peak season.

SunExpress, a joint venture of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, claimed that the agreement will help in boosting its fleet. The company stated its aim to reach a 150-aircraft fleet by 2033.

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Max Kownatzki, CEO of SunExpress highlighted how this agreement will deepen the relationship between the two parties.

Kownatzki said: “The memorandum of understanding clearly underlines our commitment to deepen our successful partnership with SAA further. We are proud of the trust that SAA is placing in us with the renewed intention to collaborate. We strive to build on this to develop a strong, long-term partnership and leverage more opportunities together in the future”.

This kind of partnership enables us to efficiently utilize our fleet, mitigating the impact of our seasonality, ” added Kownatzki.

SAA and SunExpress are presently discussing solutions for multi-year reciprocal capacity assistance as well as collaboration in maintenance, training, and commercial support.