Discovery and SAA announce new collaboration

Discovery has signed an agreement with South African Airways (SAA), making the carrier its new airline partner.

Discovery links up with SAA

Following the unfortunate collapse of Comair, Discovery and SAA have made the decision to link up, effectively allowing SAA flights to be made available on the Vitality Travel platform. 

Travel news reports that it will see Discovery Bank’s platinum, black and purple card clients have access to SAA’s airport lounges, as the bank aspires to create a better airport experience for its clients.

In an SAA media statement, Discovery Bank CEO, Hylton Kallner, explained that the new partnership was a contribution to both government and the national carrier’s broader aim to revitalise operations through a public-private partnership, while contributing to the tourism industry.

“We are delighted to work with SAA to upgrade these iconic lounges. Along with our Priority Fast Track Lanes at OR Tambo and Cape Town International Airports, Discovery Bank clients will now enjoy the best possible end-to-end travel experience,” Kallner said.

Before its regrettable closure, Comair had served as Discovery’s flight partner, offering discounts to its Vitality members on kulula.com and BA Comair. 

SAA helps with domestic flight demand

In other news, SAA has increased capacity along South Africa’s trunk domestic routes in a bid to keep up with flight demand.

The carrier has assigned most of its reserve capacity to flight services on SA’s main domestic routes, as well as to Mauritius, in the wake of Comair’s recent collapse. According to SAA’s Executive Commercial, Simon Newton-Smith, the airline will be doubling its mid-week flights to Cape Town from Johannesburg and to Mauritius, while also increasing the number of flights into Durban by up to 67%.

The sudden demise of Comair took around 45% of domestic seat capacity out of the market and placed most of the popular regional routes under immense strain.

Newton-Smith also said that industry data had revealed that the Johannesburg-Cape Town route had lost approximately 34% of available seat capacity, and the Johannesburg-Durban route around 30%

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