South African regional and domestic airline Airlink has announced the start of a new route, and the increase of frequencies on two other routes. All three are regional ones. The new route is from Cape Town to Gaborone, Botswana, and will commence on April 1. The two routes which will have additional flights are Johannesburg to Nairobi, Kenya, and Johannesburg to Lusaka, Zambia.

The Cape Town to Gaborone route will be operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, by the carrier’s Embraer ERJ140 regional jets. The flights from Cape Town will be coded 4Z 364 and depart at 10h50, arriving in Gaborone at 13h00. The return flights will be coded 4Z 365 and leave Gaborone at 13h45, landing at Cape Town at 16h00.

“Gaborone and Cape Town are important destinations for business and leisure travel and we have seen rising interest and demand from local and international long-haul customers, for an Airlink direct service between the two cities,” explains outgoing Airlink CEO and MD Rodger Foster. “With the introduction of this non-stop Airlink service, we’re also able to provide seamless connections at Cape Town for those customers travelling between Gaborone and numerous long-haul destinations on our various international partner airlines’ flights.”

The increased services to both Nairobi and Lusaka will commence on March 30.

Currently, Airlink operates flights between Johannesburg and Nairobi every day. (The flights from Johannesburg are coded 4Z 070 and depart at 09h40, arriving in Nairobi at 14h40. The return flights are coded 4Z 071, leave Nairobi at 15h30 and reach Johannesburg at 18h40). The new frequencies are night flights, which will operate on three nights each week. The flights from Johannesburg will be coded 4Z 072 and leave at 20h30 on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, arriving in Nairobi at 01h30 the next mornings. The return flights will be coded 4Z 073 and depart Nairobi at 02h15 on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, reaching Johannesburg at 05h25 the same days. (The times are all local times.) All Nairobi flights are, and will be, operated using Embraer E190 aircraft, which are in the smaller single-aisle airliner category.

Regarding Johannesburg-Lusaka, that route is currently served by 13 return flights a week. The new services, which will be in the morning and afternoon, will increase this to 21 return flights a week.

(The current schedule is for daily flights leaving Johannesburg at 11h30, arriving in Lusaka at 13h30, operated by E190s and coded 4Z 162; the return flights, coded 4Z 163 depart Lusaka at 14h15 and land at Johannesburg at 16h30. In addition, the airline operates services using its smaller ERJ140 regional jets, on six days each week. From Johannesburg to Lusaka, these are coded 4Z 164 and are operated on every day except Saturday; they depart Johannesburg at 17h00 and arrive in Lusaka at 19h00. From Lusaka to Johannesburg, they are coded 4Z 161 and operate every day except Sunday; they leave Lusaka at 07h30 and reach Johannesburg at 09h35.)

There are two new sets of services to Lusaka. The larger set will be flown with E190s and will be operated every day of the week except Sundays. Flights from Johannesburg, coded 4Z 166, will depart at 07h45 and arrive in Lusaka at 09h45; the return flights, coded 4Z 167, will leave Lusaka at 10h25 and land at Johannesburg at 12h30. The other set of new services will be flown on just two days a week, namely Fridays and Sundays. These will be operated by Embraer ERJ135 regional jets. The flights from Johannesburg will be coded 4Z 168 and depart at 14h30, arriving in Lusaka at 16h30. The return flights will be coded 4Z 169 and leave Lusaka at 17h10 and reach Johannesburg at 19h15.

“The additional Nairobi and Lusaka flights are scheduled to provide business and leisure travellers with greater choices and convenient connections, through Airlink’s Johannesburg hub, with our other domestic and regional services as well as long-haul flights provided by our global airline partners,” highlighted Foster.