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South African becomes 18th member of Star Alliance
On April 10, South African Airways officially joined Star Alliance. At 71 years old - one of the oldest airlines in existence - SAA becomes the 18th member of Star alliance, filling a white spot in Africa that now gives customers a more extensive network of destinations.

Membership in this alliance places us amongst the top airlines in the world. We are an award-winning airline, and vibrantly African. Our footprint on the continent reflects our African spirit; qualities that we wish to introduce to the rest of the world. Proudly South African, our membership will allow us to show-off our African culture to the rest of the world said Khaya Ngqula, SAA CEO.

In preparation for joining, SAA switched to the Amadeus reservations system, which is at the heart of the Common IT Platform project now being developed by Star Alliance. SAA also redesigned its branding to incorporate the Star Allliance logo, and began implementing the new logo in signage, aircraft livery, inflight entertainment, announcements and more, on April 1.

According to Skytrax, the British expersts on airline rankings, SAA is one of the top ten international airlines, and SAA`s business class seats are ranked as the world`s best lie-flat seat.

SAA has a fleet of 61 aircraft including new Airbus A340-600 and A340-300E aircraft already delivered as part of its fleet renewal programme, serves 26 countries and 34 airports, with 166 daily departures. Vicky Karantzavelou - Tuesday, May 09, 2006