Originally Posted by
zhaobao
Re GRU - HKG - it's still a 6-hour transit in JNB whereas it's only a 2.5-hour transit in DOH if flying QR or 3-hour transit in ADD if flying ET. And the whole journey is shorter with QR and ET.
With original JNB to HKG schedule - one can still make all the connections to PEK/TPE/ICN/NRT/KIX.....
Re VFA/LVI to LHR - it's a 6-hour transit in JNB too.
Am I missing something ?
SAA previously flew JNB-GRU-JNB 11x week, with the 4x per week flight connecting well to JNB-HKG-JNB. They had a strong connecting business with a 4.5 hour connection east-bound in JNB. The reduction of JNB-GRU-JNB to daily lost those connections. You may be surprised but SA have a strong brand in Brazil and a very good local sales network. Their codesharing with both JJ and O6 provide excellent feed. The connection is 6 hours on SA, but less than 4 hours on JJ (there is a bilateral codeshare).
While the previous arrival time into HKG did have connections to PEK/TPE/ICN/NRT/KIX they were struggling to get sufficient capacity. They'll now have much greater access to codeshare capacity in HKG.