Fly Safair is set to expand its fleet to 40 Boeing 737 aircraft after adding two more Boeing 737-800s. The South African low-cost carrier will take the twinjets, both about nine years old, into service with 189 seats each, extending a fleet built around the narrowbody type and increasing available capacity across its network.
The aircraft previously flew for Hainan Airlines and were parked in Haikou in spring 2026 before their transfer. The addition lifts Fly Safair’s 737 count to 40 and underlines its continued reliance on the Boeing 737-800 as the backbone of its operations.
The move follows a broader pattern of fleet growth through used-aircraft acquisitions, a model that gives the airline room to expand without waiting for new-build deliveries. Fly Safair has steadily increased its presence in South Africa’s domestic market, where high utilisation and relatively dense cabin layouts are central to its business model. The latest aircraft are configured to match that approach, offering 189 seats rather than a lower-capacity layout.