Me again
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Flintstone:
Unless it has changed, I believe SAA used the Cape Verde Islands to refuel when they flew from NYC...</font>
SAA actually only schedule stops at Sal Island, Cape Verde Islands, on the westbound trip from South Africa to the USA. The eastbound flights are nonstop JFK/ATL to Jo'burg or Cape Town.
Johannesburg is elevation 6,000 feet, and that saps the 747-400s ability to make it nonstop to the US against the prevailing wind, with sufficient fuel, and with sufficient takeoff performance for the high altitude departure. Jo'burg certainly used to have the longest commercial runway in the world to maximise performance of departures from there.
Oh no. Now I've started another thread on the world's longest commercial runway!