After the demise of Comair, a BA franchise, it left a bit of a gap for those wishing to travel between airports in South Africa and beyond using Oneworld.
British Airways has today announced a codeshare partnership with Airlink, improving connectivity between the UK, Europe, North America and more than 15 destinations in Southern Africa.
With bases in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban in South Africa, Airlink is a premium regional airline with a wide-reaching network of cities in 14 countries, including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia.
The agreement means British Airways’ customers travelling from or transiting through London will be able to connect to their final destination via Cape Town or Johannesburg on a single ticket. This will offer more choice and flexibility for those travelling on to one of 18 towns and cities, such as Windhoek in Namibia and Durban in South Africa. Namibia is well worth a visit, and now with this link, it is even easier to make it a two-centre holiday with Cape Town, for example. Namibia is a sophisticated country in Southern Africa with great wildlife and stunning scenery. It makes a cheaper alternative for safaris than many popular places in Africa.
British Airways currently flies twice daily between London Heathrow and Johannesburg with A380 aircraft, twice daily between London Heathrow and Cape Town with B777 and A350 aircraft and three times per week between London Gatwick and Cape Town with B777 aircraft.
You can earn Avios when flying on Airlink flights on a British Airways’ codeshare journey. You should also be able to earn tier points on a codeshare ticket too, but that has not been specified in the press release.
Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Director of Network and Alliances, said: “Our flights to Cape Town and Johannesburg continue to be as popular as ever with our customers, so we’re pleased to be able to open up more options in the Southern African region. Our partnership with Airlink means that customers will be able to book a full journey on one ticket, allowing seamless travel all the way from London to their final destination.”
Airlink’s CEO and Managing Director, Rodger Foster, said: “This is an important next step in our partnership with British Airways, which has a phenomenal global reach into the most important markets for our region. The marriage of our two networks will benefit both British Airways’ and Airlink’s customers, giving them even more choice with a wide range of itinerary options and connectivity possibilities.”
In total, 18 destinations are available as codeshare options when travelling from Heathrow via Johannesburg and Cape Town. Examples include:
• London Heathrow to Durban via Johannesburg
• London Heathrow to Port Elizabeth, South Africa, via Cape Town or Johannesburg
• London Heathrow to Skukuza, South Africa via Cape Town or Johannesburg
• London Heathrow to Windhoek, Namibia via Cape Town or Johannesburg
• London Heathrow to Walvis Bay, Namibia via Cape Town or Johannesburg
Codeshare tickets are now available to book on www.ba.com, for travel from 15 February 2023 onwards.
9 comments
Excellent news. Having travelled this route for 25 years, it was a real shame BA lost a codeshare partner in Africa.
My Comair flight from CPT to Johannesburg next month was cancelled when it collapsed so BA have put us on a South African Airways flight. I wonder if they’ll move us to Airlink now?
Probably unlikely now I’d say.
Good development and shows the great development done by Airlink in recent years. I wonder if BA will ever reinstate the London/Durban route which was suspended though before 2020.
Funnily enough I was wondering that when I was in South Africa last week. I think it’s probably a long way down the list personally. Especially now they have this agreement.
But does Airlink have a business class that BA customers can be booked on?
Yes it does with mainly Embraer aircraft with 2-1 configuration
No codeshare on the Johannesburg – Saint Helena flight? (Weekly on Sat)
Johannesburg – Walvis Bay – Saint Helen (4Z131)
Saint Helen – Johannesburg (4Z132)
Great news. I’m about to book flights to Victoria Falls and Vilanculos with Airlink. Shame I cannot combine my Avios flight with BA. Would have been a lot less worry about connections.
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