This follows last year's expansion into Ndola, Zambia. While SAA has the largest market share in South Africa, a proliferation of domestic carriers is leading to over capacity. Regional expansion helps take the pressure off. SAA is well versed in regional routes compared to other South African operations.
These countries have strong oil or mining industries in common, small aviation markets and a 2011 GDP growth rate of more than 4%. While SAA already served two other airports in Zambia, the launch of service to Pointe Noire, Kigali and Bujumbura marks the carrier's first point of entry into the three landlocked countries. The strategy SAA adopted after nearly a year of restructuring aims to tap the mineral rich and developing markets across Africa and thwart competition from Middle Eastern carriers, who continue to gain increasing capacity share on the Africa-Europe and Africa-Asia routes. Of the top 10 busiest routes in Africa, South Africa is home to four. The busiest route, Johannesburg OR Tambo-Cape Town International Airport, sees approximately 124,000 seats per week, making it the 17th busiest in the world.
While Zambia, Rwanda, the Republic of the Congo and Burundi share growing economies, valuable natural resources and a desperate need for air service due to their landlocked nature, they have historically been poorly served by other African and international carriers due to long periods of political instability, war (both past and present), poverty, corruption and low levels of investment. SAA's strategy of tapping into mineral-rich yet underdeveloped African nations is necessary to take capacity away domestically and provide the South African market with links to new trade markets. Like many African routes, SAA's new services do not operate daily due to limited demand, but the expansion will continue to help deliver the regional links Africa needs to facilitate growth on the continent.
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