South African Airways

Is South African Airways safe?

Yes, with caveats about the last few years. SAA has not had a fatal accident in almost 39 years, and South Africa's regulator, SACAA, is in the FAA's top category and scored about 95% in an ICAO validation mission in 2026. We score SAA 77, below Royal Air Maroc and above Kenya Airways.

The weaker part is what happened after 2019. SAA went through a 17-month business rescue, stopped flying, restarted with a handful of aircraft and has had a run of serious incidents since, including two on the same stormy morning at Cape Town in May 2026.

SAA's crash history

SAA's two deadliest accidents are decades old. On 20 April 1968 a Boeing 707 taking off from Windhoek on a moonless night levelled off at about 650 feet, began to descend and flew into the ground 5 km past the runway; 123 people died. Investigators blamed the human factor in very dark conditions.

On 28 November 1987 the Boeing 747 Combi Helderberg, flight SA295 from Taipei, had a fire in the main-deck cargo area over the Indian Ocean. The crew reported smoke and began an emergency descent towards Mauritius, but the aircraft broke up and crashed into the sea, killing all 159 people on board. The investigation could not find where the fire started, only that it may have disabled the crew, burned through control cables and weakened the structure.

Since then SAA has had no deaths and has not written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary an aircraft of its own. A 747SP owned by SAA was destroyed in 1998 by an uncontained engine failure, but Mozambique's LAM was operating it.

Business rescue and a smaller SAA

SAA entered business rescue in December 2019 and left it at the end of April 2021. It flew its first scheduled flight since then on 23 September 2021, three daily Johannesburg to Cape Town returns, with Accra, Kinshasa, Harare, Lusaka and Maputo next. By December 2025 it had 18 aircraft of its own, according to SAA management quoted by ch-aviation: 14 leased A320s, two leased A330-300s and two four-engined A340-300s. A wet-leased A330 from Hi Fly flies some routes, including Accra, Abidjan and Brazil. SAA plans to order 28 new-generation aircraft, but for delivery from 2032.

The airline remains state-owned and open to an equity partner. Its better 2024/25 result came largely from selling London Heathrow slots, and the Auditor-General issued a disclaimer of opinion on those accounts. We do not score finances, but long shutdowns matter for safety: in February 2021 SACAA at first refused to let SAA fly a vaccine charter to Brussels because its pilots were no longer current, and allowed it only after extra training.

Serious incidents since 2021

• Johannesburg, February 2021. On that vaccine flight, an A340-600 triggered Alpha Floor stall protection while retracting flaps after take-off, which may have been caused by a known software quirk with the take-off mass. SACAA said it was not told until 17 March, well past the reporting deadline.
• Over Botswana, April 2022. An A330-300 flew home from Accra with both engines surging all the way to Johannesburg. Fuel taken on at Accra the day before had been contaminated with water.
• Near Loxton, October 2024. An A330 at 41,000 feet hit clear-air turbulence and began oscillating in pitch while breakfast was served; three cabin crew were hurt, one seriously. Investigators found the pilot flying had disengaged the autopilot against Airbus guidance without telling the other pilot, and cited poor crew resource management.
• Cape Town, 11 May 2026. A storm hit Cape Town with gusts above 50 knots. One A320 went around in windshear, found it had too little fuel to try again, was turned away from George and landed at Port Elizabeth with 420 kg left, well below normal reserves. Three hours later another A320 hit windshear on approach; a flight-control computer fault dropped it into alternate and then direct law, and the crew landed it by hand. South Africa's investigators opened a serious-incident investigation into the second; SAA said it followed all required procedures, including incident reporting.

Who should be careful

• Fly SAA with normal confidence on its trunk routes, Johannesburg to Cape Town and Durban. Most of its recent events were weather and technical problems that crews handled.
• On Cape Town flights in winter (May to August), expect diversions when cold fronts come through. Allow spare time for connections.
• Keep your seat belt fastened in cruise. The 2024 injuries happened during meal service in clear air, with no weather on radar.

How we scored it

The accident record (88) is SAA's strength: no deaths since 1987. Oversight (82) reflects a strong national regulator and IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary, less a few points for the 2021 currency and reporting problems. Incidents (62) cost the most, with four serious events since 2021 and crew findings in 2024. The small, older fleet (65) and a demanding African network (68) make up the rest. Overall 77.