Africa-Press – Eswatini. Africa’s Newest Airline is about to live up to its pay-offline of “everyone must fly” by clinching a new service with the Lanseria International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.
According to a statement released on simpleflying.com, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Eswatini is considering increasing capacity to Johannesburg, and that could potentially be with a new service to Lanseria International Airport.
This plan is part of the airline’s broader strategy to eventually fly to all the countries in the SADC region, the airline’s Commercial Director Getaneh Woldemichael told Simple Flying at last month’s AviaDev Africa Conference held in Windhoek, Namibia.
Woldemichael said since Johannesburg is a major regional hub, it was the airline’s key route and he felt that converting some road users to air might increase the carrier’s frequences.
He also believed OR Tambo was already well-served by Eswatini Air and its competitors.
“We might be looking at Lansela to give travellers an alternative especially those visiting Pretoria and the northern suburbs,” Woldemichael said.
He added: “We have a mandate to deepen the integration to all the SADC countries. So, they are on the cards. We are looking at some destinations and evaluating which ones are easy to mature within two to three years.
We are considering adding several new routes in 2025,”
The airline sees opportunities to expand into East Africa and the Middle East due to existing business and leisure travel links.
Eswatini Airplane
Eswatini Air started operations in March 2023.
According to simplifying.com, the carrier’s traffic volumes experienced significant growth between March 2023 and 2024, as the new operations made air travel to and from the Kingdom cheaper and more accessible.
Eswatini Air offers 18 weekly flights from Manzini – King Mswati III International Airport to South Africa, including 13 weekly to Johannesburg, three weekly to Cape Town and two weekly to Durban.
The Eswatini Air was originally planned to commence operations in June 2022, the airline secured an AOC in December 2022 after some delays.
Operations commenced on 26 March 2023 with twice-daily flights to Johannesburg, with the necessary foreign operator permits granted by South Africa.
Harare, Zimbabwe was added in April 2023, and Durban and Cape Town were added to the network by June 2023.
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