South African airline coming for FlySafair and taking over Africa

Airlink, a South African carrier backed by Qatar Airways, expects a substantial increase in revenue this fiscal year as new deliveries of Embraer jets enable its expansion across the continent, the airline’s chief executive officer said.

The Johannesburg-based regional airline wants to grow its network by about 10%, including two more countries, de Villiers Engelbrecht said in an interview.

Last week, the airline launched an inaugural flight to Mauritius and a new service connecting Cape Town with Zanzibar.

That brings Airlink’s total destinations to 67 across 16 countries.

“It is probably our most ambitious revenue growth year in history,” he said.

“If we look at the growth opportunities in front of us, we’ve got enough to keep ourselves busy for the next two years.” He declined to elaborate on the figures.

Qatar Airways owns a 25% stake in Airlink. In the fiscal year through August, Airlink carried about 4.5 million passengers, representing 5.5% growth from the prior period.

“We are quite encouraged by the demand in the regional market, and we look forward to a quite good peak season,” Engelbrecht said.

There are “too many opportunities on the continent,” and the airline is looking to expand in western, eastern and central Africa, he said.

Airlink operates an all-Embraer fleet of more than 70 jets. So far this year, it has received four aircraft with both business and economy classes.

Three more are due by July, Engelbrecht said.

It also acquired 10 of the 195-E2 models in 2025, with the final deliveries expected by mid-2027.

“Our fleet strategy is very deliberate in terms of Embraer,” Engelbrecht said. “That’s the right aircraft gauge for the markets that we service. It’s typically markets that prefer frequency over capacity.”