Travelers and tourists now have the the opportunity to reach Eswatini from all around the world, thanks to Airlink, a private airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa that operates a comprehensive route network in Africa. According to information from thekingdomofeswatini.com, this comes as the Southern African kingdom continues to strengthen its partnerships with key international airlines.
Airlink flies to 16 destinations, including Eswatini, and operates significant code-shares and interline agreements with no less than 31 international airlines. This level of connectivity means visitors to Eswatini from all four corners of the globe can book their air travel with Airlink and its partners, and conveniently arrive in Eswatini thanks to seamless connections.
Airlink has continued to diversify its offerings over the past two years, signing agreements with Emirates and United Airlines in 2021, Qatar Airways in 2022 and now British Airways in February 2023.
The agreement means travellers can fly, for example, from London to Johannesburg and then onto Eswatini, on a single ticket. This will offer more choice and flexibility for keen tourists to discover to Kingdom, no matter where their starting point is.
Airlink CEO and Managing Director, Rodger Foster, shared the positive outcome in signing the agreement with their most recent partners British Airways.
“This is an important next step in our partnership with British Airways, which has a phenomenal global reach into the most important markets for our region. The marriage of our two networks will benefit both British Airways’ and Airlink’s customers, giving them even more choice with a wide range of itinerary options and connectivity possibilities.”
Airlink operates its flights through Eswaitni’s King Mswati III International Airport (Sikhuphe). The airport is located in Sikhuphe, 50 KMs from the country’s largest city Manzini. The airport started its operations in September 2014 and all commercial flights operations were moved from Matsapha Airport. Matsapha Airport now handles VIP and Mercy flights. Since its inaugural flight, a modern tarred highway has been built getting travellers towards the popular tourism hotpots such as Ezulwini Valley in less than an hour.
Despite Eswatini being reachable by road from Johannesburg in a 4 -5 hour journey, the convenience of Airlink flights to Eswatini makes it an optimum choice for visitors to the country.