Day 2 of 10 countdown - 9 days and we're airbone SAA's new customer-first business approach

This new ethos will be underpinned by the airline's abiding and continued commitment to safety and being acknowledged as a responsible corporate citizen.

Interim CEO Thomas Kgokolo says, "While it's impossible to ignore the recent difficult history of SAA, this is also a proud brand that celebrates its eighty seventh anniversary this year and one that is respected the world over.

Our jobs as custodians of this brand is to build on the goodwill gathered over so many years and to reshape and recast a business that all South Africans can be proud of. We know it's going to take time. Trust and respect are not won overnight, but with the confidence and the enthusiasm our staff is showing ahead of our take off date on September the 23rd, I'm confident we will achieve those goals quickly."

Kgokolo says, since exiting business rescue, managers and staff are facet of the business and have been working collegially on a new philosophy of customer excellence. Some of the attributes that airline staff will be striving to build are, creating real connections with each other and customers; adopting an internal culture of collaboration; living by the principles of total accountability; being aspirational in terms of future growth and development; and containing costs.

Kgokolo says, "We know these are lofty goals but it's only through striving for them, that we are going to put SAA back in a place where it belongs. The process that, has already started and will manifest itself on the morning of September 23.

Initially SAA will fly three times daily between Johannesburg and Cape Town, and from 27 September it will operate daily return flights to Harare, Lusaka, and Maputo and three times a week to Accra and Kinshasa. SAA is planning send-off and welcome functions in Johannesburg and Cape Town on the 23rd the aim of which is to mark the occasion and thank airport staff and passengers. Strict COVID-19 protocols will be in place.