HONG KONG - PIVOTAL IN AIRLINK BETWEEN NORTH ASIA AND AFRICA

Hong Kong, May 26, 2000 ..... Hong Kong has a pivotal role in terms of airlink

between North Asia and Africa, and South African Airways also plays an important role

in developing the relationship between the territory and the African Continent,

according to Mr Phillip Bekker, Regional General Manager, North Asia, South African

Airways.

"Hong Kong is the air travel hub for North Asian countries - Japan, Korea, China,

Taiwan and the Philippines. It is a converging point for international flights from

different continents and countries," says Bekker.

He points out that in the past three years, there has been an increased interest in

South Africa, not only from Hong Kong, but also from China, and even Japan.

Currently,

visitor flow to South Africa from Hong Kong alone averages 22,000 on an annual basis.

He credits this positive upturn to the aggressive tourism and investment promotions

by the South African Government.

"The growing popularity of South Africa as a business and tourist destination in the

region will be beneficial for Hong Kong," says Bekker. "Hong Kong is South African

Airways' (SAA) regional hub in North Asia. From here, we interlink with China,

Taiwan,

Korea, Japan and the Philippines."

To strengthen Hong Kong's regional hub role, SAA has positioned Johannesburg as the

'gateway' into the African continent, and has increased the flight frequencies

between the territory and Johannesburg. Through a codeshare agreement with Cathay

Pacific in July last year, SAA is able to service six non-stop flights a week between

the two destinations. SAA will be able to provide daily non-stop flight service when

Cathay Pacific starts flying four times a week to Johannesburg at the end of the year.

In addition, SAA has also positioned Johannesburg International Airport (JIA) as the

'hub of Africa'. One of the busiest airports in the world, JIA is now a world-class

facility with the South African Government's investment of more than 600 million Rand

(HK$352 million) spent on upgrading the international arrivals and departure

terminals. A further 1.7 billion Rand (HK$1 billion) is budgeted to be spent on JIA

during the next five years.

"Johannesburg's position - next to South Africa's industrial heartland, as well as

its modern cargo facilities, makes it a natural hub for reaching other African

destinations," says Phillip Bekker. "Like our Chek Lap Kok airport, JIA is an

international hub where flights from different continents converge."

Bekker stresses that this positioning will help promote SAA as the closest and fastest

link to South Africa's neighbouring countries such as Namibia, Botswana, and

Mozambique, as well as to Latin America. Johannesburg is Hong Kong's shortest link

to Buenos Aires.

He further stresses that the promotion of Johannesburg as the gateway and the hub

into Africa is central to the strategy of SAA to focus on developing markets on the

African continent. "It is of equal importance to our overseas market such as Hong

Kong, where we can offer investors, diplomats and traders not only the bountiful

opportunities of South Africa, but also those on the rest of the continent.

"We can now talk of Africa via Johannesburg as the latest trade route for the intrepid

traders from this part of the world."

The growth of SAA's operation in Hong Kong signifies the strengthening of bilateral

ties between Greater China and the African nations. Phillip Bekker reveals that

plans are in the pipeline to introduce package tours from South Africa to Hong Kong

and the mainland to increase business and leisure travels.

In a recent survey by UK's renowned travel magazine Conde Nast Traveller, SAA was

voted second in the 'world's best long-haul airline for leisure' category. Under

the leadership of President and Chief Executive Coleman Andrews, SAA's mission is

clear - to be the best in the world.

With this goal in mind, SAA has undertaken a strategic development programme -

'Strategy for Winning' - gearing at improving customer service. These programmes

include service review, technology upgrade, alliances and renewal of fleet.

One element of 'Strategy for Winning' is to achieve punctuality in its schedules.

Through the campaign, SAA was able to identify major causes of delays and laid down

aggressive steps for rectification.

SAA has placed firm orders for 21 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. SAA will be the first

airline in the world to receive the 737-800s with advanced technology 'winglets',

a 2.4 meter high aerodynamic sail at the end of each wing which increases the lifting

power of the wing and extends the range of the aircraft.

"With initial deliveries beginning in May this year and running for 16 months, SAA

will end up having by far the youngest, most technologically advanced fleet in the

South African skies and throughout Africa," says Bekker.

In a world that is fast becoming a global village where today's traveller flies to

more places, 'global mobility' has become an essential airline business. SAA is

expanding the travel options available to its customers by forming powerful alliances

with some of the world's top airlines, thereby successfully linking Africa with the

rest of the world.

SAA's codeshare partners include airlines such as Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, Delta

AirLines, Emirates, Luthansa, Swissair, Ghana Airways, Air Namibia and Varig.

Zambia Skyways (formerly known as Eastern Air) became a codeshare partner in April.

With its network of partner airlines, SAA now offers a non-stop or one-stop

opportunity for travellers to reach over 570 destinations worldwide, up from 70 just

over a year ago.

In order to gain immediate access to proven airline systems, SAA has formed an alliance

with a leading global air transportation solution provider. SAA signed a Letter of

Intent at the beginning of this year with Atraxis AG, a company specialising in airline

IT systems.

Atraxis will supply new and powerful IT tools to SAA, offering wider online

capabilities to enable improved through-check-in and greater access to frequent flyer

programme - Voyager data, improved codeshare capabilities, electronic ticketing,

passenger handling and baggage tracing. The Atraxis offer includes annual baseline

savings on IT expenditure of 10% during the first year and not less than 30%

year-on-year.

"This deal improves SAA's capabilities by enabling us to fill any systems gaps we

currently have, and to replace some of our ageing systems with proven best-of-class

airline systems," says Bekker.

Mr Phillip Bekker concludes: "With the blossoming of Africa's democracy and economic

growth, opportunities are plenty for traders and tourists from Asia, especially from

Hong Kong and China. SAA is proud to be part of the investment push into Africa.

We look forward to playing a bigger role in the awakening of this magnificent continent

and in developing closer ties between Hong Kong / China and Africa."