Embattled South African Airways (SAA) has added capacity on its Mauritius route, with the introduction of the bigger Airbus A330-200.

From October 1, the airline will use the new aeroplane, which adds extra capacity of 200 seats a week, operating flights SA190/SA191 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

SAA’s double-daily schedule to Mauritius, which currently operates on four days of the week, will remain in effect – totalling eleven flights a week. The current aircraft mix of Boeing B737-800s and Airbus A320-200s will continue to service the route for the remaining scheduled flights each week.

“The Mauritius route is going from strength to strength and we still experience growing demand, both from the continent and internationally. Mauritius is a popular destination for many South Africans with more than 100 000 passengers travelling there every year.

“Improving our product offering on this route holds strategic commercial value for the business and forms part of the impetus of the airline’s long-term turnaround strategy (LTTS),” said SAA Mauritius and Indian Ocean Islands manager Menon Ramasawmy.

The A330-200 offers 222 seats with 36 in business class and 186 in economy.

“SAA remains a strong strategic partner in developing West–East traffic, pulling passengers from South and North America, as well as Africa, to Mauritius. We connect Mauritians with the rest of the world. Mauritius is an easy and comfortable four-hour flight from Johannesburg,” Ramasawmy added.

Mauritius remains a fast-growing economy with consistent demand-side growth in both business and leisure travel. Load factors on the route continue to perform positively with growing trade and economic development driving business travel outside of traditional seasonal leisure trips.

SAA serves as patron to the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Mauritius to further advance its business community engagement. The airline has seen an increase in business-related travel between the two countries owing to growing interest by Mauritian firms in prospecting in emerging African countries and a favourable rupee/rand exchange rate, which has led to a major increase in importation of goods from South Africa.