Safair
South African airline
Safair is an airline based at the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, South Africa. It operates one of the world's largest fleets of civil Lockheed L-100 Hercules cargo aircraft.
Safair is a Level 4 BBBEE contributor. Safair Operations (PTY) LTD has been independently verified in accordance with the Codes of Good Practice, issued in terms of section 9(1) of the Broad Black Based Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003 as Amended per Act 46 of 2013 (Gazette 37271 of 27 January 2014).
The airline is an affiliate of ASL Aviation Holdings. Humanitarian Aid and Relief operations has always been Safair's "niche" market. Safair assists aid and relief agencies such as the United Nations, World Food Programme, and the International Committee of the Red Cross in delivering much needed humanitarian aid to stricken regions on the African continent as well as other areas in the world where such assistance is required.
01History
Safair Operations as it is known today was established in 1965. At the time it was known as Tropair (Pty) Ltd and was a general aviation charter company. In 1970 the company name changed to Safair Freighters (Pty) Ltd when the company was purchased by Safmarine and the new entity began operations on 18 March 1970. Its primary client in the 1980s was the South African Defence Force.
Until 2018, Safair was contracted to the Italian Antarctic Program (National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA)) to support science over the austral summer, flying Lockheed L-100-30 missions from Christchurch, New Zealand to Zucchelli Station in Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. In 2007, Safair obtained its IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) approval.
02Fleet
As of July 2019 the Safair fleet consists of the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | In fleet | On order | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-800 | 7 | Passenger | |
| Boeing 737-400 | 10 | Passenger | |
| Boeing 737-400C | 1 | Combi aircraft | |
| Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules | 6 | Freight only, passenger only, or combi | |
| Lockheed Martin LM-100J | 10 | Ordered in 2014 to replace current L-100s | |
| Total | 24 | 10 |
Previously operated
03Reliability and on-time performance
In October 2023, Safair was the most reliable low-cost carrier according to Cirium's On-Time Performance rankings. In October 2023, Safair flights arrived on time 90.81% of the time.
04FlySafair
In 2013, Safair created a low-cost carrier operating under a separate brand called FlySafair. The initial plan to operate flights in October 2013 had to be cancelled, as a result of a High Court application by Comair. FlySafair is currently operational, with the first flight having taken place on 16 October 2014. FlySafair operates passenger flights between Cape Town, George, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg, Lanseria, Durban, Bloemfontein, Hoedspruit, Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, East London, Zanzibar, Mauritius, Harare, Livingstone, Victoria Falls and Maputo.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Safair”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Safair logo.svg by Unknown author, Fair use
- Safair Boeing 737-300 Lebeda.jpg by Alan Lebeda, GFDL 1.2
- ZS-ORA@LIM,30.06.2008-519ai - Flickr - Aero Icarus.jpg by Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Safair L100-30.jpg by cmxliv, CC BY-SA 4.0
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.