South African Airways supports education in Nigeria
In a bid to encourage education in Nigeria and give back to the society, South African Airways held the grand finale of its maiden edition of Essay completion in Lagos last week where it rewarded the youths with cash and other prizes.
The airline reiterated that it will not leave any stone unturned in giving back to Nigeria where it had successfully operated to from its base in Johannesburg in the last 20 years.
Kemi Leke-Bamtefa, National Sales manager, SAA, who spoke to journalists after the grand finale of the first SAA Essay competition with theme; Patriotism: Making a difference as a youth, said the competition will hold every year, adding that this is just one way of investing in Nigerian youths and in a place the airline’s operations had been successful in the last twenty years.
“It’s a South African Airways event, it is part of what we have in stock for Nigeria, we are a South African company based in Nigeria, we’ve been around for 20 years. We have series of activities this year, in fact this year, we have two Essay competitions. We want to be part of development in Nigeria. I do not believe in people saying that our leaders have failed us, but I say we have failed ourselves.
“Part of this is impacting on the youth and making them look inwards and see how they can contribute to the development of Nigeria, this is not about Nelson Mandela or about South Africa, it is strictly about Nigeria and Nigerian youth and how we can contribute to the economy”, Leke-Bamtefa said.
She said the airline plans to take the competition to Universities and even Orphanages, adding that apart from prizes given to the students, they will be taken on familiarization tour to South Africa to have an experience of the technical side of aviation.
Meanwhile, Victory Yinka-Banjo from Princeton College, Surulere, Lagos State, won the competition as she went home with N100,000 cheque and other prizes; Master Ojo Purpose Oluwapelumi from Liz International College, Giwa Oke-aro, Ogun State came second while Miss Halim Blessing of Princeton came third.
The winners and other seven finalists all went home with cash and consolation prizes.
Speaking on the development, Basil Agboarumi, chairman of the assessment panel, who is also the public relations officer of Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCOL), thanked the management of SAA for such initiative adding that now is the time to start beaming searchlight on Nigerian youths who are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow.
In addition to this, from January 8, SAA will operate wide-body aircraft on its Johannesburg-Mauritius route. The Airbus A330 generation aircraft will offer a two-class cabin configuration, with increased seat availability. Business class will range from 36 to 46 seats and economy class from 186 to 203. The A340-300 has 38 seats in business class and 215 in economy class.
SAA currently serves the Johannesburg-Mauritius route with an A320, offering 24 business-class seats and 114 in economy class. A wide-body aircraft will now be used on seven of the nine weekly flights.
Tlali Tlali, SAA spokesperson, said: “Mauritius is one of our most popular destinations for both business and leisure travel in our route network, which has prompted us to add more seats on those days of the week when demand is at its highest. The wide-body aircraft operations serve as replacement of the narrow body capacity and frequencies that have been adjusted on some days on the Mauritius flights in line with our objective of efficient utilisation of our aircraft and as part of our network remediation.”
On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, SA 190 departs JNB at 09h40. SA191 departs Mauritius at 16h40.
On Wednesdays and Saturdays, SA192 departs JNB at 08h40; SA 190 departs JNB at 10h25. SA 193 departs Mauritius at 15h40 and SA191 departs.
IFEOMA OKEKE