Building on almost three decades of partnership, Emirates and South African Airways are further enhancing their relationship, working towards a reciprocal codeshare agreement, ahead of the busy peak travel season.
With single ticket fare and hassle-free baggage handling, Emirates customers would be able to enjoy seamless access from Johannesburg to three domestic points in South Africa – Cape Town, Durban and Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), and a further thirteen regional points in Africa, including Abidjan, Accra, Botswana, Dar es Salaam, Kinshasa, Windhoek, Lagos, Lusaka, Lubumbashi, Harare, Victoria Falls, Windhoek, and Mauritius.

The codeshare will enable Emirates to tap into feeder traffic from South Africa, and regionally, alongside long-haul connecting passengers from the UK and the U.S.
This builds on the existing codeshare partnership that provides South African Airways customers with access to Dubai on Emirates’ soon-to-be 56 weekly flights from three gateways, as well as a further 68 global destinations available on an interline basis.
Since January, 45,000 passengers have taken advantage of this partnership.
The agreement was signed at the 2025 Dubai Airshow by the Emirates’ Deputy President, Adnan Kazim and Group Chief Executive Officer of South African Airways, Prof. John Lamola.

Beyond the reciprocal codeshare, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) also outlines the scope to explore further collaboration across loyalty programmes and cargo operations, as well as closer cooperation to explore synergies between their shared network and schedules.
Commenting on the signing, Kazim said the partnership was one of the first in the Emirates portfolio.

He said that since signing in 1997, the collaboration had created reliable connectivity for passengers to explore more of the globe with simplified, seamless travel.

In his own comment, Lamola stated that the enhanced codeshare agreement marked a significant milestone in South Africa’s 28-year partnership with Emirates.

According to him, it reflected South African Airways’ commitment to delivering seamless connectivity for “our customers and strengthening South Africa’s position as a key aviation hub.”