SAA terminates deal with Match
South African Airways (SAA) announced on Monday that it will no longer proceed with an agreement with Match, the official ticketing agency of FIFA, to provide seats on the airline's aircraft for Match. The decision not to proceed with the Match deal followed the inability of the two parties to agree on the terms and provisions of the contract.
SAA Group Corporate Affairs made this official statement earlier this week.
The tickets, which were reserved for Match as part of this deal at the most desirable peak times before and directly after matches, will now be made available by SAA to the public at affordable and competitive rates.
"We are very pleased to now be able to offer customers these tickets at reduced rates," says Ian Cruickshank, SAA's 2010 project leader.
"SAA and Match couldn't come to an agreement on the number of seats to be provided and the terms and conditions relating to this. The airline can no longer offer Match any special conditions for carriage on our aircraft. We have done our utmost to assist them, but we cannot hold our tickets stock indefinitely while seat numbers keep changing. We would much rather make these tickets available to our own loyal customers," explains Cruickshank.
SAA remains open to discussions with Match and have not ruled out further cooperation. The airline would like to continue to assist them with the provision of technical and operational expertise and assistance with the operation of wet leased aircraft that they intend using to fly their guests around the country on routes which are not currently served by scheduled South African carriers.
This extends to international flights that Match wish to operate from countries with no service to South Africa, such as Mexico. Discussions are currently underway and are expected to be finalised later in April, Cruickshank said.
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