South African Airways and Emirates expand codeshare, explore deeper partnership
South African Airways (SAA) and Emirates signed (17-Nov-2025) a MoU to expand their codeshare agreement, explore further collaboration across loyalty and cargo operations, and explore synergies between their shared network and schedules. Emirates will gain codeshare access to SAA services from Johannesburg to Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Abidjan, Accra, Botswana, Dar Es Salaam, Harare, Kinshasa, Lagos, Lusaka, Lubumbashi, Mauritius, Victoria Falls and Windhoek. Emirates plans to increase Dubai-Cape Town frequency from twice to three times daily from 01-Jul-2026, increasing its overall frequency between Dubai and South Africa to 56 times weekly. [more - original PR]
Background ✨
Emirates increased its Dubai-Johannesburg frequency from three to four times daily from 01-Mar-2025, restoring its South African operations to pre-pandemic levels with 49 weekly frequencies to the country, and no other carriers currently operate this route1. Emirates also partnered with South Africa Tourism Board to promote the destination and support tourism recovery efforts2.