SAA wins top African airline award

Ikechi Uko, publisher of African Travel Quarterly and founder of Akwaaba Travel Market.

South African Airways has emerged as the Top African Airline at the 22nd Akwaaba African Travel Market, reinforcing its position as a major player in Africa’s aviation and travel industry.

The award, presented during the three-day event recently, was determined through voting by travel industry stakeholders and members of the public.

Announcing the award at the event, Ikechi Uko, publisher of African Travel Quarterly and founder of Akwaaba Travel Market, said the recognition reflected the airline’s sustained contribution to the travel industry.

The award, according to the organisers, formed part of the Top 100 Travel Icons in Nigeria for Excellence in Travel. The airline, however, said the recognition goes beyond aircraft, routes and passenger numbers.

At this year’s Akwaaba market, SAA took that strategy further by sponsoring four of its travel-agent and tour-operator partners as co-exhibitors at its stand, giving them an all-expenses-paid opportunity to engage directly with both business-to-business and consumer audiences.

The participating companies, Fare Deal Travel & Tours, Vacation Places Limited, 3Cords Leisure & Vacation, and OCI Travel & Tours, had previously travelled to Mauritius on an SAA-sponsored familiarisation trip, experiencing hotels, attractions and tourism offerings first-hand.

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“SAA did a wonderful job. The facilitation was seamless, and we want to do more group tours with SAA to bring more people to explore Mauritius,” said Oluwayemisi Kpote, a travel consultant with 3Cords Travels.

Olubusola Afolabi, head of operations at OCI Travels & Tours, said the familiarisation trip had changed the way agents engaged with clients.

He said, “The Famtrip allowed SAA partners that sell Mauritius to experience the destination firsthand,” she said, adding that the knowledge gained had enabled agents to advise customers more confidently and had “improved our sales to that destination.”

Sonny Egbane, co-founder and COO of 3Cords, described the partnership as “a step in the right direction,” noting that the stronger collaboration between the airline and agents could benefit both sides.

Divine Bestman, a ticketing officer with Fare Deal Travels, said the exposure had been an eye-opener. “We can advise clients better now and the response time of the people is very good,” she said.