S. African Airways to sell nine planes to accommodate new fleet

South African Airways has put some of its aircraft up for sale to accommodate the new Airbus A350-900s the airline recently added to its fleet, it said.

The cash-strapped carrier has put for sale nine wide-body aircraft—five Airbus A340-300s and four Airbus A340-600s—and 15 spare engines, it said in a tender on its website.

“The decision to sell the aircraft has nothing to do with the business rescue process,” Acting Chief Executive Officer Zuks Ramasia said. “For some time we had planned to replace our four-engine aircraft with the two-engine ones.”

The new A350s which will start operating on SAA’s international route network next week, Ramasia said. The closing date for the tender is Jan. 30.