Safair is an airline based at the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, South Africa. It operates one of the world's largest fleets of civil Lockheed L-100 Hercules cargo aircraft.''Flight International'' 2010 World Airliner census
Retrieved 27 August 2010

Flight International ''Flight International'', formerly ''Flight'', is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", i ...

12–18 April 2005

History

Safair Operations as it is known today was established in 1965. At the time it was known as Tropair (Pty) Ltd and was a general aviation charter company. In 1970 the company name changed to Safair Freighters (Pty) Ltd when the company was purchased by Safmarine and the new entity began operations on 18 March 1970. Its primary client in the 1980s was the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence Fo ...

. Safair is a Level 4 BBBEE contributor. Safair Operations (PTY) LTD has been independently verified in accordance with the Codes of Good Practice, issued in terms of section 9(1) of the Broad Black Based Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003 as Amended per Act 46 of 2013 (Gazette 37271 of 27 January 2014). Safair is an affiliate airline of ASL Aviation Holdings. Humanitarian Aid and Relief operations has always been Safair's "niche" market. Safair assists aid and relief agencies such as the United Nations,

World Food Programme The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961 ...

, and the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...

in delivering much needed humanitarian aid to stricken regions on the African continent as well as other areas in the world where such assistance is required. Until 2018, Safair was contracted to the Italian Antarctic Program ( National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA)) to support science over the austral summer, flying Lockheed L-100-30 missions from Christchurch, New Zealand to Zucchelli Station in

Terra Nova Bay Terra Nova Bay () is a bay which is often ice free, about long, lying between Cape Washington and the Drygalski Ice Tongue along the coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition (known as the ...

, Antarctica. In 2007, Safair obtained its IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) approval.

Fleet

the Safair fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Previously operated

ATR 72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR. The number "72" in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 pa ...

Klee, Ulrich & Bucher, Frank et al. ''jp airline-fleets international''. Zürich-Airport, 1966–2007 *

Beechcraft 1900 The Beechcraft 1900 is a U.S made twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With customers favoring ...

D *

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

-320 *

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavier Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter ...

-100 *

-200 *

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

-200 *

British Aerospace 146 The British Aerospace 146 (also BAe 146) is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2001. Avro International Aerospace manufa ...

-100QT * British Aerospace 146-200QC *

CASA CN-235 The CASA/IPTN CN-235 is a medium-range twin-engined Military transport aircraft, transport aircraft that was jointly developed by CASA (aircraft manufacturer), CASA of Spain and Indonesia, Indonesian manufacturer Indonesian Aerospace, IPTN. It i ...

* Convair 580 * Lockheed L-100-20 Hercules * McDonnell Douglas MD-81 * McDonnell Douglas MD-82 * Partenavia P.68B * Partenavia AP.68TP-600 Viator

Reliability and on-time performance

In October 2023, Safair was the most reliable

low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

according to Cirium's On-Time Performance rankings. In October 2023, Safair flights arrived on time 90.81% of the time.

FlySafair

In 2013, Safair created a

operating under a separate brand called FlySafair. The initial plan to operate flights in October 2013 had to be cancelled, as a result of a High Court application by Comair. FlySafair is currently operational, with the first flight having taken place on 16 October 2014. FlySafair operates passenger flights between Cape Town, George, PortElizabeth,Johannesburg, Lanseria, Durban, Bloemfontein, KMIA, East London, Zanzibar, Mauritius, Harare, Livingstone,Victoria Falls and Maputo.

References

External links

Official website
{{Witwatersrand companies Airlines of South Africa Airlines established in 1965 Charter airlines Cargo airlines of South Africa Companies based in Ekurhuleni Kempton Park, Gauteng 1965 establishments in South Africa