South African Airways was banned from most of the world's airspace for 20 years. Apartheid sanctions shut down nearly every African and European route. SAA didn't stop flying. It flew around an entire continent.
The manoeuvre had a name: "around the bulge."
To reach Europe without overflying hostile African airspace, SAA's 747SPs flew southwest from Johannesburg over the South Atlantic, skirted the West African coastline thousands of miles off course, refuelled at Ilha do Sal in Cape Verde, then turned northeast toward Europe. A routing that added 4,000+ kilometres to what should have been a direct flight.
The 747SP — Special Performance — existed for exactly this kind of mission. Shorter fuselage, lighter airframe, extended range. SAA was one of the largest SP operators in the world. It had to be.
The rest of the route map was diplomatic survival. Johannesburg to Taipei. Johannesburg to Tel Aviv. Two of the few governments still talking to Pretoria. SAA pilots became specialists in ultra-long sectors that no other airline would touch.
When apartheid ended in 1994, the skies reopened. SAA launched routes across Africa and into Europe. It joined Star Alliance. It ordered new aircraft.
Then the politics moved inside.
Eight CEOs between 2004 and 2019. Board appointments became patronage. Procurement contracts inflated. Technical staff left.
The airline posted losses every single year for nearly a decade. The South African government injected over R30 billion in bailouts. None of it stuck.
In December 2019, SAA entered business rescue. Flights were suspended. The fleet was grounded. Staff were retrenched in the middle of a pandemic.
The airline relaunched in September 2021 with six aircraft. The Takatso consortium took a 51% stake. The route network shrank to domestic and regional services.
SAA once flew 747SPs around the bulge of Africa to reach London. It now flies A320s to Cape Town.
The livery is the same. The range isn't.