New SAA A330-300
 

So SAA recently took delivery of the first of 5 new A330-300s that got leased. The first is ZS-SXI. I found some pics on the net. Anyone with more pics?

all i have is this ad in the sunday argus, looks nice and about time. now i have one (1) reason to fly jnb-fra on their 333 up front.

i'm worried how mediocre y will become though.

http://i65.tinypic.com/10gguuo.jpg

SN-SXI
 

Equip changed (luckily) on flight from JNB to CPT this morning. Y is awesome. Huge upgrade with bigger screens and USB ports. New seats mean they still have some padding. Lots of ?'s about range for these planes. Hopefully the rest of the fleet catches up in the next few years. I just flew an A332 from IAD to JNB in the old biz class, which is fine, but would love the all aisle access and privacy of the new Vantage XL seats.

PS
 

The bulkheads are great. Wish I had a better photo of them but lots of footstorage room.

Pics
 

sorry - here are my photos

Have seen SAA advertising on billboards and such around JNB, but nothing talking about new birds or new business class. A shame too, THIS is something SAA has going for it and could capitalize on

Looks great! I like the current seat for the amount of space it gives, but I think the direct aisle access of these actually trumps that.

Does anyone know if these seats will be limited to the newly leased aircraft, or will there be a retrofit of the existing aircraft. I guess some of those seats must be pushing 15 years or so already?

In the last photo posted by apkohn (posted Dec 18, 16, 9:32 am) in the last photo, it appears there's some sort of seat belt clip at the top of the seat, by the headrest. Is that what it is? What would it be for?

On the Swiss Thompson XL business seat, that is where the three point seat belt comes down.
Does anyone have any idea which of the outside seats are closer to the windows vs. the aisle? Currently scheduled to fly one of these JNB-GRU in March.

Air Asia have these on A380 in J, they insist that for take-off and landing that the 3rd point is buckled. I found it uncomfortable. Interestingly on my return, I flew Air Asia A380 in F sans these buckles, it appears the lives of a J pax are worth more?

can anyone update where they plane will be flying in Jan 9? hehehe hopefully JNB-LHR :)

No, not on either flight, judging from the seat maps.

UA has them in Global First on some aircraft, so they must think their F pax are worth more.

They are uncomfortable, just unbuckle as soon as the cabin check has been completed.

Johan

Qantas have them on A330's as well

My JNB-GRU on Jan 9 was recently changed to this plane.

i

They announced the routes a while back: GRU, LOS, DAK/IAD, MUC
http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/268594/south-african-outlines-a330-300-operations-from-dec-2016/

2nd cabin bulkhead?
 

I was looking to reserve the window bulkhead in the rear J cabin of the new 330 - 333, but need assistance in determining whether they are 8A and 8K, or 9A and 9K. Anyone who has travelled in the new plane ---- advise would be greatly appreciated!

Looking at the pictures posted below you can see a seat number in row 12. Counting back to the bulkhead would make that row 9. :)

Many thanks!

I flew last night in 9K (SA223 from GRU -JNB) the bulkhead in the 2nd cabin, and it had a near perfect amount of legroom insofar as my legs had no restrictions either in depth or laterally. The cabin was also quite cool, which made use of the duvet quite pleasant.

There is, however, an unexpected downside to this seat, an acoustical aberration as far as I can tell. There are six metal galley cabinets in front of the seat but before the light/noise blocking curtain, and the normal use of these cabinets by the crew causes a loud BAM each time they are shut. The crew made use of the cabinets throughout the flight, and neither earplugs nor noise suppressing earphones were at all successful in diminishing the BAM. My wife, in 10K was unaware/unaffected by what sounded in 9K to be slamming doors --- it was really just one of those acoustical oddities that pops up every so often in newly designed environments.

The return flight in a few weeks is a day flight; we'll try the front cabin for that one.

I will be flying on the new Girl in December from Munich to JNB. Believe All of US this will appreciate it on here if you do a trip report with loads of pics on the new A330-300 when trying the front cabin... my current seat is 4A!

IAD - JNB
 

Looks like Dulles is getting the A333 for the trip to JNB via Accra Ghana. Very excited as the 343 they used previously is showing its age. Wish SAA would order another 5 or 10 of these and retire the 343 and 346......4 engines just doesn't make it anymore!

JNB-ACC-IAD is nearly exclusively A346 and A332 at the moment. But yes, it will switch to A333 in a few months.

JNB-DKR-IAD is exclusively A332 (occasional A343), and will remain A332 for the foreseeable future.

What's the Y pitch on the A333?

Seat Guru only has the plan for the A332, and Y has a tight 31-32" pitch.

Seat guru
 

I contacted them about the lack of a333 seat maps on SAA, they say it takes weeks to add new aircraft. Even the SAA site does not make reference to the new planes. Seems odd.

I was in Y between Cape Town and JNB on the A333 and was very impressed with the seats - material, comfort and pitch of seat, pitch was not tight. seats 53 H &K

The IAD-DKR-JNB route will be operating 3 times / week with the new A330-300 aircraft, starting February 3, 2017 and will operate 4 times / week on the IAD-ACC-JNB route, starting June 3, 2017. So by June 2017, the A330-300 will be operating daily on the IAD routes.

It's scheduled as such, but not sure we'll see the A330-300 on JNB-DKR-IAD.

ugh why are they flying this on a short haul domestic route instead of the older planes? or is this brand new equipment and they want to get some hours on to wrinkle out the mechanical kinks

I'm not sure what you mean, but the entire long-haul fleet rotate through JNB-CPT-JNB, JNB-LAD-JNB and JNB-MRU-JNB during the daytime for various reasons (cargo loads, passenger loads and aircraft utilization). Since most SAA long haul arrivals are early morning (except IAD and some GRU flights) and almost all long haul departures in the evening (except GRU, LOS and some ACC) there are plenty of aircraft that would otherwise just sit on the ground at JNB during the day. On any given day, SAA would have up to 12 widebody aircraft on the ground at JNB, with up to 7 then utilized on JNB-CPT-JNB, JNB-LAD-JNB and JNB-MRU-JNB.

They currently have three A330-300s. They are currently flying daily JNB-LOS-JNB, daily JNB-GRU-JNB and the additional 3x weekly JNB-GRU-JNB. That is pretty good utilization. That they are getting some shorthaul JNB-CPT-JNB as well is bonus.

Some pictures up at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...s-los-jnb.html

Might want to check that again! I was scheduled to fly it from Munich to JNB in Nov, but it has since been downgraded to an A340, and from looking on Expert flyer, it's all A340 for November and December. Not sure where the A330 is going, but its definitely not starting daily from June 4.

It'll fly Munich during the South African winter (low-season), but then revert to A340-600 during the South African summer (high-season).

I booked JNB-MUC-JNB two weeks ago for my Christmas Holidays. At time of booking ac type was A333 for both legs, now changed to A346. :(

I had specifically booked to come home on the 3rd of Jan as the 4th was showing A346. Looks like I should've stayed the extra day.

ya all fair, all that evening flying.

i see the jnb gru (sa222) is now on a 332...what are the odds of swapping to the 333 last minute/week of?

or based on this i will be on the 1 flight per week that doesn't have the 333?
http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/...from-dec-2016/

Just flew this JNB-GRU. Unfortunately I destroyed my phone at landing so no pics :( But my one warning would be to avoid Row 8 as it is missing a window and the fuselage bulges out making the width of the seat limited. It feels a bit claustrophobic as there is a floor-to-ceiling cabinet across the aisle, and people queue for the restroom. Row 11 is also missing a window.
I moved to Row 9, as there was a total of 1 passenger in the rear business cabin. That seat has particularly good storage underneath the footwell.
The cabin was quite striking, but I found the seats not to be very comfortable as they lacked padding. Also, the mirror in the bathroom was already cracked and repaired with duct tape!
Happy to answer any questions people might have./

Thanks for the report - we'll be up in 3 D/G next week and will try to grab some photos.

J class seats apparently cost well over € 100,000 each. It is amazing how many airlines happily spend a fortune on such seats, yet often don't even get the basics right.

Johan

I think you'll be surprised by how much testing goes into seat design. The seat is not unique to SAA and all but the largest airlines taken an off-the-shelf design these days. This specific seat is the Thompson Vantage XL which has also been used by ANA, Delta, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Philippine Airlines, American, JetBlue, Edelweiss, Air Canada, Air Astana, Qantas, Finnair, SAS, China Eastern and Aer Lingus.

I'm pretty sure it has been extensively tested!

The upholstery is not the same.