South African Airways

South African Airways is the flag carrier of South Africa and a member of Star Alliance, flying from its hub at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. It relaunched in September 2021 after emerging from business rescue, and has rebuilt cautiously since: as of early 2026 it serves around 17 destinations across Southern Africa and further afield with a fleet of roughly 19 aircraft, a fraction of its former size but growing again.

Flying for South African Airways

SAA runs one of Africa's better-known sponsored schemes, a Cadet Pilot Programme that takes 40 young South Africans a year through roughly 14 months of theoretical and practical training to a frozen ATPL, with cadets serving as in-flight relief pilots or Second Officers on long-haul sectors. It is worth reading the terms precisely: on completion, cadets are expected to build further experience elsewhere in the industry and then apply for an SAA vacancy through normal recruitment when one arises, rather than flowing automatically into a First Officer seat. Direct-entry pilots need a South African frozen ATPL with a multi-engine instrument rating.

With 40 places against a national pool of applicants, selection is severe, and it follows the familiar shape — aptitude and psychometric testing, interviews, a class 1 medical and a simulator assessment. The reasoning, spatial and multitasking tests at the front of that funnel are the part a candidate can genuinely move, and at these ratios small margins decide places.