According to the rumour, the B744 will be replaced on the Lisbon route by B772's, the B744 will replace the B743 on the Rio route. Then they are expanding to Londen and Paris. Apparently Houston is also on the cards with a A340 (SAA ??). They are increasing flights to China and also looking for more B772's.
One of the B743's is going to JHB for a C-check......so I think the B744 will still be flying for them for a while although apparently they can not fly the B744 direct to and from JHB(JHB-LAD-LIS(RIO)-LAD-JHB).Arriving in JHB around 01:00 in the mornings, the B744's are ferried(no pax) to JHB......Seen the schedule, seen the flight arrive but can not confirm the reason for this.
Just some rumours floating around.............