A day after Emirates signed an interline agreement with South African carrier Airlink, Qatar Airways announced its own with FlySafair, connecting international travellers to destinations both airlines fly to throughout Southern Africa. Both agreements further erode the chances for South African Airways to make a comeback.
Emirates said that as borders in Africa continued to open and travel became easier, the agreement would give its passengers to Johannesburg and Cape Town smoother connections to 20 destinations in South Africa and 25 in Southern Africa. Airlink flies to numerous cities in Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and St. Helena island.
Qatar, which has 19 lights to South Africa weekly, said its agreement with FlySafair would allow passengers to Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town access to 10 local destinations, including Port Elizabeth, East London and George.
As South African Airways, which used to serve some of those markets, sits between business rescue and liquidation, other local airlines are taking up the gap that it left.
