South African Airways (SAA) will lease 20 to 25 new widebody aircraft, after plans to buy were dropped earlier this year. SAA CEO Monwabisi Kalawe said the lease will be signed by October with deliveries from 2017 or 2018. In February, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba forced SAA to withdraw a multi-billion dollar request for proposals for 23 new long-haul aircraft, over concerns about a lack of localisation-adaptation to a particular language, culture, and desired local 'look and feel' (further to 23 Widebodies Sought by SAA, September 2013, p32). The Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 were understood to be the favourites for this contract - Airbus has said its A350-900 would be 11 % cheaper to operate than existing equipment on SAA's international routes, many of which make losses. SAA needs to replace its inefficient fleet of Airbus A340s and carrier spokesperson Tlali Tlali said it was important to operate new aircraft to reduce operating costs and return to profitability.
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