South African Airways (SAA) has relaunched service to Sao Paulo—marking the only intercontinental destination to which the airline operates.

The routes to Brazil “will facilitate numerous export and import opportunities and augment existing trade relations between the two countries,” SAA says in a statement. “SAA will operate a widebody fleet with sufficient space to load palletized cargo and provide faster movement of goods, whether it is general cargo, pharmaceuticals or high-value cargo, boosting the movement of time-sensitive goods.”

SAA resumed operations in September 2021 after an 18-month hiatus for restructuring. It has rebuilt a network in Africa, but Brazil becomes the first country served outside Africa since the airline relaunched.

Outside of South Africa, the airline serves Accra, Ghana; Blantyre, Malawi; Harare, Zimbabwe; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Lagos, Nigeria; Lilongwe, Malawi; Lusaka, Zambia; Mauritius; Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe; and Windhoek, Namibia.

John Lamola, SAA interim CEO, says the airline has operated more than 9,000 flights since relaunching services in 2021. “The choice of Brazil as our first intercontinental route was informed not only by rigorous economic and market analysis, but also by considerations of the strategic linkages of South Africa,” he says.

Prior to the pandemic, SAA operated seven long-haul routes from Johannesburg. Aside from GRU, the carrier flew from JNB to: Frankfurt; Hong Kong; London Heathrow; Munich; New York John F. Kennedy; and Perth, Australia.