South Africa to Keep Direct Flights from Atlanta

When South African Airways introduced a new Johannesburg-Washington, D.C. flight last year, the move seemed to sound a death knell for its popular Jo’burg – Altanta route.

SAA operated the Atlanta route in partnership with Delta Airlines, but is now about to join the Star Alliance, and will embark upon a new “codesharing” agreement (in which different carriers can make bookings on one another’s flights) with Delta’s rival, United Airlines. This will make Washington, D.C. and Chicago, IL SAA’s principal hubs in the US, with Atlanta left out of the loop.

But now Delta has announced that it has received approval to continue the Atlanta flights on its own. The company is waiting for the next peak season to start flying: look for its red-and-blue insignia on JNB‘s runways this December. (And also look out for travel specials associated with the new route.) (Last, look at this amusing disgruntled ex-Delta employee’s blog.)