United Kingdom-based travel data and analytics company, Cirium, has cited South African Airways (SAA) as being Africa’s best on-time performance (OTP) airline, APA learnt on Wednesday.
The International Airlines Transport Association’s (IATA) benchmark of OTP “is that an airline is on-time when it arrives within 15 minutes of the scheduled time of arrival or departs within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time.”
According to Cirium’s latest report on OTP, SAA was ranked fourth in the category for the Middle East and Africa mainline carriers, making SAA the leading African carrier on OTP.
“This accolade of South African Airways being one of the top on-time performance airlines, is another indication that our tourism services are among the best in the world,” South African Tourism Minister Mamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said on Wednesday in her congratulatory message to the airline.
The minister added: “As a destination, we (South Africa) strive to offer a product where excellence is a habit, and we will constantly enhance our offerings to ensure we reach our target of 21 million tourists by 2030 — in both numbers and the memories of those who visit and tour our country.”
The accolade, issued at the onset of the New Year, should augur well for the cash-strapped state-owned flag carrier, which is recovering from a debilitating workers’ strike that nearly crippled it late last year, according to observers.
NM/jn/APA