Someone is a little confused here: the original talk was for short term leases for 3 long haul aircraft - not new builds! Any 77W would have to be new builds and would take years to arrive - there are currently 362 unfilled orders for 777 models, and Sunair hold no delivery slots! Conside3ring they only delivered 75 aircraft last year do the math to see how long the wait is! None of the leasing companies have any uncommitted deliveries, they last ILFC slots have already been allocated. Singapore has just ordered some more A330 since the order list for 777 is too long. If Singapore can't get earlier slots then I don't see how SAA can! I can understand SAA taking quite a few 77W in the long term but 3 frames in the short term would be impossible! However, they could get 772 or 773 A models (non-ER) but they would struggle to operate JNB-LHR (range is just too short given hot and high conditions in JNB). And if they only wanted the aircraft for JNB-LHR then why 3 frames when you only need 2?
SAA did have an order for 4 772 and an option for 3 more, but they were canceled and the deposits used as part payment for 2x 744 SAA got in 1998 (SBK and SBS).
SAA doesn't need to replace the frames that went to Mango since the 738 was underutilized in the SAA fleet which is why they were often leased out for the European summer charter season. They want the frames for some expansion within Africa and possibly to move more frames to Mango.