Airline news: Airlink rises to new heights on African continent

Airlink, which is now privately owned, has been named the second biggest airline on the continent, after Ethiopian Airlines, according to data published by aviation website anna.aero.

The airline has about 1.2 million passenger seats for sale over the summer period in the southern hemisphere.

AIRLINK CUTS TIES WITH SAA

Founded in 1992, Airlink originally connected smaller towns in South Africa with larger cities. In 1997, it joined forces with South African Airways and South African Express Airways in a partnership where Airlink became known as SA Airlink.

Under the partnership, SA Airlink operated as a feeder airline for national carrier SAA.

In November 2020, SA Airlink ended its longstanding relationship with SAA and rebranded itself as an independent airline under its original name, Airlink. The carrier also entered codesharing agreements with KLM, Air France, British Airways, Qatar Airways, Emirates and United Airlines.

AIRLINK REFRESHES BRAND

In its effort to separate itself from the SAA brand, SA Airlink renamed itself and also decked its planes out with fresh new livery in the colours of the African sunbird.

The airline has effectively ended all connections with its previous partner, the defunct SAA, and is going from strength to strength.

OPPORTUNITY TO EXPAND ROUTE NETWORK

Since Airlink resumed operations after the hard lockdown in 2020, it has been growing its route network. Airlink has added new destinations it previously did not fly to. The absence of SAA and British Airways has created an unexpected opportunity for Airlink to grow exponentially.

Airlink operates flights on 63 routes in Southern Africa. It flies to destinations inside and outside of South Africa’s borders. Most flights are to destinations within South Africa, with one fifth of its flights operated between Johannesburg and Cape Town, the busiest commercial airline route on the continent.

With 1.2 million seats for sale, Airlink is Africa’s third-largest airline in terms of the number of seats on offer, behind continental giants Ethiopian Airlines and Egyptair. However, when considering the number of flights operated by all African airlines, Airlink takes second place, just after Ethiopian Airlines.

AIRLINK’S FLEET

Airlink has 46 aircraft, according to planespotters.net, a website for aviation enthusiasts. Airlink’s fleet consists of :

• 4 British Aerospace Jetstream 41s;
• 27 Embraer ERJ-135s;
• 3 Embraer ERJ-170s; and
• 12 Embraer ERJ-190s.

The bulk of Airlink’s 1.2 million seats are provided on its domestic flights within South Africa. The most used aircraft for its domestic flights is the Embraer 190, which seats 98.