SA Express and SAA 75 Years

Here we go again to end the weekend as promised. This update is all about SA Express and South African Airways ( SAA ). It's all compliments of Bruce , who happened upon this blog and decided to contribute. And, he did so in a big way. Bruce contacted me and said he had a set of 6 special postcards and asked if I would like them. Of course , you know my answer. He received these postcards back on April 24, 1995. The set of 6 were given to all passengers flying on SA Express on that date. He has kept them all these years but has passed them all on to me now. The set of cards are called The Cape Connection and commemorates the 1st anniversary of South African Express Airways on 24 April 1995.

Card # 1 - "Mother City" A brand new de Havilland Dash 8 Series 300 aircraft over the sea with the cape capital in the background. SA Express operates these sate-of-the-art aircraft in a strategic alliance with South African Airways, providing passengers from regional centres with timely connections with onward flights at Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban as well as other major airports. Bruce used 2 stamps on this card. The fish stamp was issued in 2000 and is 1 of a set of 4 fish definitives. The other stamp, a Domestic Medium rate stamp, issued in 2007 shows a cheetah from a set of 2 definitives.

Card # 2 - "Sunny Skies " A sleek new de Havilland Dash 8 Series 300 aircraft cruises effortlessly above Cape Town. These ultra modern commercial aircraft are fully pressurized and designed to seat 50 passengers in wide body luxury while setting new standards in fuel efficiency, speed, and comfort. On this card we see a bird definitive from 2001. It is 1 of a set of 5 and this one is the whitefronted bee-eater.

Card # 3 - "Sundowner " An SA Express Dash * Series 300 aircraft coming in to land at Cape Town's international airport. These economical, modern aircraft, built by de Havilland of Canada, are used by SA Express to provide a frequent, cost-effective air service between Southern African towns and the major cities. Two more of the bird definitives from 2001 are seen on this card.

Card # 4 - "Golden Seas "A new SA Express Dash 8 Series 300 aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Town. Built by de havilland of Canada, these aircraft are powered by two Pratt and Whitney PW123 turboprop engines. The large diameter, slow turning propellers provide high thrust and low noise levels. Again, we have two more of the 2001 issued bird definitives.

Card # 5 - "Homeward Bound "An SA Express Dash 8 Series 300 aircraft leaves Cape Town airport for a regional destination. These pressurized , twin turboprop, high wing aircraft fly at a good speed- 286 kts/529 kmh. On this card we see a neat round stamp from a set of 10 issued in 2009. The set was called "All you need is love " and they came in a sheet shaped like a heart.

Card # 6 - "To the Point "This last card in the set shows a new SA Express Dash 8 aircraft off the Cape of Good Hope. The Dash 8 Series 300 is the most successful turboprop of its type. A nice stamp from a 2009 set of 5 appears on this card. The set consists of Sea and Coastal Birds.

That ends the set of 6 special postcards. It doesn't , however, end Bruce's contribution. In addition to the postcards, he also sent an envelope containing a souvenir sheet of 6 commemorating South African Airways 75 th Anniversary. It was issued on January 31, 2009. The sheet shows the tail logos of SAA aircraft over the 75 years. I use an aircraft tail logo as my avatar in Postcrossing. You can see it here. So it was great to receive this sheet from Bruce. The SAA tails and logos are as follows:
Top Left- SAA Junkers 1934-1940
Middle - SAA Douglas DC-4 1946-1967
Right- SAA Boeing 707 1980-1982

Bottom Left - SAA B747 1971-2008
Middle - SAA Airbus A300 1976-2001
Right - SAA B747 1971-2008

That about does it today for SA Express and South African Airways. Only thing left , is to offer my thanks to Bruce for all this. Thank you, Bruce.

I hope I didn't loose any readers with all this aviation, and airline related stuff today. As many of you know, I am a former airline employee and have a aircraft on postcard collection and also an airlines on stamps topical collection, so all this was just up my alley.

Now I am totally caught up with my postcards, so we'll have to see what presents itself in the coming week. If cards are few, I have a couple of ideas to keep interest up.

Take care, thanks for reading and I welcome your comments as always.