The flight to Kinshasa carried 14 passengers and the return flight 55, excluding SAAF crew members.
The SAA jet with President Cyril Ramaphosa arriving in Kinshasa. The presidency posted a video of the arrival on its Facebook page.SA Airways was one of several bidders from which the air force sourced quotes for President Cyril Ramaphosa's flights to the Southern African Development Community summit in Kinshasa last week, says the defence department.
This as the Sunday Times reported the president flew on an SAA A340 passenger jet because none of the air force VIP fleet is serviceable. Inkwazi, the presidential Boeing business jet, would have cost about R800,000 for the eight flying hours to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and back, said the report.
In response, the department of defence confirmed Inkwazi and other executive aircraft “are currently out of commission”.