Qantas, SAA end codeshare after 14 years

South African Airways and Qantas will end their long term codeshare arrangement on flights between Australia and Johannesburg from May 31.

The codeshare has been in place since October 2000, when SAA stopped flying between Johannesburg and Sydney with its own metal after 27 years of operation.

In September, the airlines were granted approval to continue their codeshare in September 2012, but only to the end of this year, with regulators on both sides making it clear that they were unlikely to consider extending it further.

Although Qantas’ decision to withdraw from the arrangement means SAA will only have a presence on the Perth-Jo’burg route, the South African carrier stressed that it remains committed to the Australian market.

Earlier this month, it struck a new codeshare agreement with Virgin Australia with the two airlines to coordinate on travel between Australia and Africa.

“Australia and New Zealand remain important markets for SAA and its customers and although we no longer operate flights ourselves to Sydney, we will maintain our presence in the country through our own operations to Perth and all of our established partnerships,” acting general manager commercial Kendy Phohleli said.

The airline will continue to serve Sydney-based passengers through its Perth gateway with a daily service to Johannesburg.

Sales of the codeshare flights ceased on Friday. Airline offices and travel partners with affected passengers will be notified of the appropriate procedure to "minimise disruption" to travellers.

The early end to the arrangement will enable the development of new options to connect Perth and Johannesburg for its passengers, according to Qantas. The airline currently codeshares on Emirates' three times weekly service from Perth to Dubai and its onwards connections to Johannesburg.