Eswatini Airlink ready for Eswatini Air competition
MBABANE – Eswatini Airlink says it will stay the competition that will be brought by Eswatini Air.
Eswatini Air is set to commence operations next week.
This was confirmed by Eswatini Airlink Manager Teddy Mavuso in an interview with this publication yesterday.
He was asked on the future of Eswatini Airlink, now that there had been an introduction of Eswatini Air.
He stated that his company will continue operating in the country and the two flight companies would now be competing, as all along, Eswatini Airlink had been the only flight provider in Eswatini.
Mavuso stated that it was agreed upon that the two companies would continue operating in the country going forward.
When asked if Eswatini Airlink might consider reviewing its fares in order to at least match those of Eswatini Air, Mavuso said such information could only be provided by Airlink head offices.
Efforts to get a comment from Airlink headquarters in South Africa proved futile as the telephone line provided on the company website was not responded to and an email sent to the provided email address had not be responded to as well, at the time of compiling this report.
Operations
Eswatini Airlink is a regional airline based in Matsapha, Eswatini. It started operations in 1999.
Meanwhile, Eswatini Air announced that it shall commence operations on March 26, 2023. The airline announced its fares, which were to stand as follows; flights between Eswatini and Johannesburg or Durban – E1 300, flights between Eswatini and Cape Town – E2 100. It was announced that flights between Eswatini and Harare – E2 200.
Eswatini Air is an Eswatini-based airline. It was founded in December 2021 and secured an air operator certificates (AOC) in December 2022.
In order to obtain the AOC, a company should have sufficient personnel with the required experience for the type of operations requested.
The national airline which is operated by Royal Eswatini National Airways Corporation (RENAC) currently owns two Embraer ERJ 145 aircrafts.
When announcing the news about the date of commencement and the fares on March 2, RENAC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Qiniso Dhlamini said Eswatini Air would be operating two flights per day (an early morning rotation and a late afternoon rotation) effective March 26, 2023.
He said the morning rotation would depart from King Mswati III International Aiport at 7am to arrive in Johannesburg at 7:45am. The CEO said the return flight would depart at O.R. Tambo International Airport at 8:45am arriving at King Mswati III International Airport at 9:35am.