South African Airways (SAA) has announced the leasing of two A350-900 jets to be received in the second half of 2019. Aircraft are expected to replace older aircraft such as the A340 on major routes such as Johannesburg-New York.
The A350-900 that will be used by SAA will have 246 seats in economy class, while the business class will have an new layout.
The South African state-owned company, which is in serious financial condition, expects the economy to be 20% lower than the four-engine A340 – SAA has 16 aircraft in its fleet, nine from the A340-600 and seven A340-300.