JetBlue Airways and South African Airways have expanded their codeshare agreement to include flights between Washington DC and Dakar, Senegal. The deal will allow SAA to sell tickets to US government employees and contractors under terms of the Fly America Act.
The latest deal is six months after JetBlue began codesharing with SAA flights between two US gateways—New York and Washington—and several African cities including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth. SAA also has been using its code on JetBlue flights from the US east coast since 2011.
The deal was initiated when SAA asked JetBlue to add Dakar to the codeshare relationship. SAA VP-North American sales & marketing Todd Neuman said: “Any US government travel that is traveling under the Fly America Act has to utilize a US carrier or foreign flag carrier that codeshares with a US carrier. For that reason, it was very important to have this agreement.”
Neuman stated there is only an estimated 1,800 government passengers flying each year between Washington and Dakar. “There’s also residual traffic, because corporations that are flying under government contracts are also required to utilize the Fly America Act,” he said.
SAA is the only carrier flying nonstop between the US and Dakar.