Many years ago, I remember flying to South Africa on SAA when it was not allowed to fly over much of the rest of Africa. All the European departures (except for one - more on that later) flew up the West of Africa and had to refuel at Islho de Sal (sp?) because they didn't have the range. It was extraordinary sitting on the plane there at about 2am, watching dozens of 747s coming and going, all on a refuelling stop.

The one exception was a white painted SAA 747, which they seemed happy to fly over Africa - perhaps it was leased from another nation's carrier and had those identifiers, I don't know, but I felt glad I wasn't on that plane. I told myself that, next time, I'd go on a European carrier which could overfly Africa without problem.