By Dipo Olowookere
Africa’s Best Airline for 14th consecutive years, South African Airways (SAA), will from December 11, 2016, bring new travel experience to Nigerian travellers with the introduction of brand new A330-300 aircraft on the Lagos-Johannesburg route.
The SAA A330-300 aircraft deployed to the Lagos-Johannesburg route is one of the five new state of-the-arts, environmentally friendly, super-comfortable aircrafts that the airline has acquired to improve its service offering for passengers’ memorable journey.
Aboard the SAA new A330-300 aircraft, Nigerian travellers will enjoy brand-new 46 Premium Business Class and 203 Economy Class seats with warm, neutral colours and cabin furnishings which provides a comfortable, elegant, hospitable and relaxed ambience, leaving travellers feeling well rested after long flights.
For the Business Class travellers, the A330 is sure to make passengers feel right at home in their very own living space. Upon boarding passengers will be welcomed with a bubbling flute of Méthode Cap Classique and then spoilt with an amenity bag stocked with travel necessities and indulgent cosmetics. After settling in the flight, passengers’ taste buds and appetite will be treated to the exquisite à la carte menu, proudly South African cheeseboard and skilfully selected wines.
Seating in Business Class cabins is in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration, offering increased privacy and providing all Business Class passengers with direct access to the aisle. The A330-300s offer more Business Class seats than the largest aircraft in SAA’s current fleet.
The updated cabin layout includes customised seats that lie fully flat at 180° and extend to almost 2m. The seat is also extra-wide at 23”. Each seat is designed to offer more privacy, individual aisle access and even more personal top and stowage space. A large tray table pops out when pushing the tray table button, which is more user-friendly than traditional tray tables.
They also bring to life the audio-channels and soundtracks of SAA wide range of in-flight entertainment options – all at passengers’ fingertips and displayed on their own screen.
Each Business Class seat on the SAA A330 is equipped with a 15” video screen, power socket and USB port for passengers use or tablet, phone and laptop charging at leisure.
SAA has the record of being the leader in introducing the first flat beds in Business Class 15 years ago and is still setting the standards today.
The 203 newly designed Economy Class slim-line seats has extra personal space and generous legroom for travelling comfort. Each seat is fitted with a 10.1” screen, individual USB charging ports and access to shared PC power points.
To make flights more enjoyable, Economy Class customers are offered a handy amenity kit with socks, eyeshades and a toothbrush with toothpaste. Passengers travelling with babies and wheelchairs will appreciate the double-size bathroom situated in the middle of the Economy Class cabin, which also incorporates a large fold-down table for changing babies’ nappies.
The in-flight entertainment totally kills boredom with range of on-demand in-flight entertainment system with full programme offerings in all Business and Economy Class seats. For the best viewing experience each seat has a high-resolution screen.
The A330-300 incorporates the RAVE inflight entertainment system – a fully customisable and lightweight entertainment system from Zodiac. This new system offers each passenger their own personal television screen, featuring an intuitive, full-capacity and simple interface. The navigation will be available in six languages: English, French, German, Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish.
In addition, passengers will be able to stream a selected set of content to their own personal device, such as a smartphone or tablet. The additional content consists of a selection of digital magazines, a newsfeed offered by Agence France-Presse (AFP) offering global news updates directly to passengers’ device, short tourism clips, a moving map which allows passengers to zoom in and out of the flying space and more.
Passengers need to download the SAA in-flight entertainment app Airscape before travel for iOS and Android devices to be spoilt for choice of inflight entertainment aboard the A330 with over 100 movies to enjoy – from the latest blockbusters to old favourites and a wide selection of African and Asian titles.
Up to 100 TV features are on offer, including the latest full-season series and comedy shows. Gaming enthusiasts can take their pick from 15 games (including a selection of multi-player games). There are also 14 radio station channels and over 170 albums to choose from.
Children will be spoilt for choice with a special kids’ programme section. In addition, SAA has a family-friendly feature whereby parents can ask a flight attendant to limit movies for a certain seat to kiddies’ view (movies for toddlers with no age restriction) or teen view (PG and PG 13 movies and programmes).
The system has a handy feature whereby a passenger can opt to be woken for meals or to be left undisturbed by simply choosing the feature on the monitor, displayed at a low light, just bright enough for the crew to identify the passenger’s wishes.
Passengers are encouraged to give quick feedback on-board the A330 aircraft flight enabling SAA to measure its service levels and continue to provide excellent service.
Aduragbemi Omiyale 
Modupe Gbadeyanka