Backstage pass: South African Airways A340-300 inaugural to Perth

We’re in South Africa to catch a very special flight with South African Airways, the inaugural re-launch of direct flights between Johannesburg and Perth in Western Australia on the rare and beautiful Airbus A340-300. First we’re at the SAA Technical hangar to spend some time with the aircraft and watch as technicians do their pre-flight checks; we join the celebrations at the check-in area; we check out the brand new SAA lounge at OR Tambo, and then we’re in the cockpit for the momentous departure and takeoff; we get a bit of dinner and a rest in the business class cabin; then it’s back in the flight deck for the warm reception and very nice landing the following morning at Perth. This is SAA’s second intercontinental route launch since coming back from its pandemic-era shutdown, so it’s a big day for the airline and for South Africa as a whole as its flag flies once again to Australia. SA280 (April 28, 2024) inaugural Flightradar24 playback: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/sa280#34f8f478 Follow Flightradar24 on Instagram - http://instagram.com/flightradar24 Follow Gabe on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabeleigh/ Find us on Facebook - https://facebook.com/flightradar24 Twitter - https://twitter.com/flightradar24 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/2740521 SECTIONS: 00:00 Intro 01:07 Meet the A340 / arrival checks 13:06 Check-in celebrations 15:09 New SAA lounge 17:35 Boarding 19:09 Cockpit pre-flight 21:14 Cockpit departure 25:31 Takeoff 28:22 Good evening Maputo 30:49 Dinner & sleep 32:05 Preparation for landing 35:03 Approach and landing ------------------------------------------- Useful flight tracking links: ✈️ Track live flights here - https://www.flightradar24.com 🎧 Listen to our podcast here - https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/avtalk-podcast 🛩️ Find out more about subscriptions here - https://www.flightradar24.com/premium 📕 Read our flight tracking glossary here - https://www.flightradar24.com/glossary 📧 Sign up to our Aviation newsletter - https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/on-the-radar-newsletter/ #southafrica #SAA #a340