South America to Africa: LATAM’s Growing Network and Airlink Partnership

LATAM Group announced the activation of ticket sales to South Africa through its «unilateral» codeshare agreement with Airlink, signed in 2023, following the resumption of it’s flights between São Paulo/Guarulhos (GRU) and Johannesburg (JNB) in September last year.

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According to a communication sent to travel agents, Airlink will not sell LATAM flights under this agreement. Instead, LATAM will be able to sell domestic flights operated by Airlink. Furthermore, tickets from any point in LATAM’s network to any destination in the South African airline’s network will be available for purchase through LATAM’s website.

Initially, LATAM is offering flights to Cape Town (CPT), Durban (DUR), Hoedspruit (HDS), and Port Elizabeth (PLZ) from Johannesburg (JNB) operated by Airlink, covering South Africa’s main destinations.

The South American airline connects São Paulo and Johannesburg with four weekly flights on Boeing 787-9 aircraft, offering 2,384 seats. According to ANAC Brazil, between January and September 2024, the airline transported 58,268 passengers, with a load factor of 83%.

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LATAM is one of the few airlines linking South America and Africa, which is why most traffic between these regions is routed through Europe or the Middle East.

Brazil serves as the main gateway to Africa, offering these connections:

• Ethiopian Airlines operates a daily flight between São Paulo and Addis Ababa (ADD), Ethiopia, using Boeing 777-200 (LR) aircraft. The flight continues to Buenos Aires.
• Royal Air Maroc operates three weekly flights between São Paulo and Casablanca (CMN), Morocco, on Boeing 787-8 aircraft.
• TAAG Angola Airlines operates six weekly flights between São Paulo and Luanda using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
• South African Airways operates two weekly flights from Cape Town (CPT) and Johannesburg (JNB) using Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

Airlink strengthens in South Africa after South African Airways crisis

After declaring bankruptcy in 2019, following years of unprofitability since 2011, South African Airways was forced to reduce its fleet and route network by 95%. This left the airline with a limited fleet of 9 Airbus A320s, 2 A330-300s, 2 A340-300s, and 2 Boeing 737-800s.

This situation allowed Airlink, one of the best-positioned airlines in the South African market, to capitalize and replace South African Airways in much of the domestic market.

Airlink, which had operated as a South African Airways franchise since 1997, has also signed several interline and codeshare agreements with airlines such as Emirates, Kenya Airways, British Airways, Qatar Airways, and United Airlines.

Additionally, Airlink has expanded its fleet over the past four years, adding 17 E190s to reach a total of 29 aircraft, along with its first four Embraer 195s. It also operates 17 ERJ 135s and 11 ERJ 145s.

Its network includes 17 domestic destinations and 28 international ones, covering countries such as Angola (Luanda); Botswana (Gaborone, Kasane, and Maun); Eswatini (Manzini); Kenya (Nairobi); Lesotho (Maseru); Madagascar (Antananarivo and Nosy-Be); Malawi (Blantyre and Lilongwe); Mozambique (Beira, Maputo, Nampula, Pemba, Tete, and Vilankulus); Namibia (Windhoek and Walvis Bay); Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa and Lumbumbashi); Tanzania (Dar es Salaam); Zambia (Victoria Falls, Livingstone, Lusaka, and Ndola); and Zimbabwe (Bulawayo and Harare).