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The text says it does not include the destinations of the affiliates of SAA, but the maps do!
I'm going to edit the text to match the maps. As well as create a section for domestic destinations. Roger (talk) 07:41, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Ouch! I really could have used that information this morning! Oh well, seeing hours of work get tossed out is "normal" for WP. LOL! But what about the maps that DO include Sa Express and Airlink routes - surely they should be changed? Roger (talk) 17:41, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The maps are not tied to the article. I can produce separate maps with SAA only, if you want. I'm busy on a wholesale update of the maps for the latest timetable at the moment. - htonl (talk) 18:14, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I've changed the maps to show only actual SAA flights; later I'll upload new ones under other names to show the whole network of SA* flights. If you can't see the new maps, clear your cache and refresh. - htonl (talk) 21:57, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The current destinations are listed in PDF schedule [1] if you make "Bookmarks" visible in Adobe Reader - each destination is a bookmark. Even though it's not so easy to see in the document itself. Unfortunately they are in purely alphabetical order and not grouped by region/continent. It includes all SA Express and Airlink destinations which can be distinguished by having different flight number ranges - SAA flights have 3 digit numbers, the others are 4 digits. Roger (talk) 19:26, 21 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
There are a few problems with the lists as they are now:
"Central Africa" should be merged into "West Africa" - the distinction makes no sense geographically.
Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique and Tanzania should be moved from "East Africa" to "Southern Africa" - they are all SADC Countries.
Angola should be moved from "Central Africa" to "Southern Africa - also a SADC member.
Domestic destinations should be separated from Regional destinations - Regional flights are international. Roger (talk) 18:59, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
One of the rationales behind the existing regional groups is that they are based purely on geography; politics, history etc are deliberately not considered. So, Tanzania may be a part of the SADC (or of the West Pacific La-La Union), but it is physically located in eastern Africa, and, therefore, listed as such. Too many complications arise if we factor in any other criteria, and you will not believe some of the "logic" that people have come up with (Israeli football teams play in UEFA, so Israel should be listed under Europe, etc etc)! Thanks, Jasepl (talk) 19:10, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The regional divisions seem to be based on the United Nations geoscheme for Africa. I'm not sure if it's really even necessary to divide up the African destination into regions at all, particularly since any such division will lead to argument. I don't really understand what you mean about separating domestic and regional destinations. After all, this is a list of destinations, not flights - all the South African destinations are listed under the South Africa heading. - htonl (talk) 19:13, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Why should the UN Geoscheme be used as the basis? It is just another of those arbitrary divisions just like FIFA regions. I'm arguing for social, political and economic connectedness to be taken into consideration - SADC and ECOWAS are very good examples of such connectedness and air travel is a social and economic driven activity. Putting Zimbabwe into a different region from SA or Botswana for the purposes of grouping airline destinations is simply irrational. Another reason is if you look at the map of SAA's African destinations there are clear "natural" clusters - Southern, Western and Eastern. The WikiProject Aviation style guide in fact doesn't mention the UN Geoscheme at all so we should be free to ignore it anyway. If one was to phone SAA and ask them for a list of their East African destinations Harare will not be on it. As for separating domestic and regional - "South Africa" should be a "===" heading by itself, not just another country bullet point with the rest of the region. I've put a proposal to this effect to the style guide. Roger (talk) 20:31, 20 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
