South African regional and domestic airline Airlink announced on Friday that it will start scheduled flights between Johannesburg and Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with effect from March 28 next year. (The carrier already operates flights between Johannesburg and Lubumbashi, which is the main centre for the DRC’s mining belt.)

“The [DRC] is a significant market for Airlink,” pointed out Airlink CEO and MD Rodger Foster. “We first stepped into the ring in 2020 with flights to Lubumbashi and now we are ready to follow through by adding Kinshasa to our regional network. This will give customers on the route far greater reach and travel options than they currently enjoy. Kinshasa is a regional heavyweight. Besides serving as the country’s political and economic capital, it is Africa’s most populous city with over 17-million inhabitants. With Airlink’s combination of schedule, connections and great service we expect to have a knock-out response.”

The new service will be operated three times a week. The Johannesburg-Kinshasa flights will be coded 4Z 010 and depart Johannesburg at 20h30 on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, arriving at Kinshasa at 23h40. The return flights would be coded 4Z 011 and leave Kinshasa at 00h25 on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, reaching Johannesburg at 05h30.  (All these times are local times.)

The flights will be operated by the carrier using its Embraer E190 small single-aisle airliners. These are configured to take 98 passengers. The flights are scheduled to ensure convenient connections to Airlink’s other domestic and regional services, and to those of its partner intercontinental airlines.

Airlink was set up in 1992 and today has a fleet of more than 65 modern jetliners. It operates services within South Africa and across Southern Africa and up into East Africa, as well as to Madagascar and St Helena Island. It is a member of the International Air Transport Association and is accredited under the IATA Operational Safety Audit (better known as IOSA) programme.