Eswatini is restart a national carrier almost a quarter of a century after the previous one stopped operations in the country.
Qiniso Dhlamini, CEO of holding company Royal Eswatini National Airways Corporation (RENAC) said Eswatini Air will fly from national capital Mbabane to cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town this year.
To this end, the state-owned company has obtained two Embraer SA 145 regional jets to start off services, which are being painted in a livery including a logo featuring a bateleur eagle.
Eswatini Air will boost connectivity in the region after the grounding of SA’s Mango, which was insolvent and awaiting injection of funds.
Comair operator of low-cost Kulula and local British Airways (BA) flights, were suspended for five days amid safety concerns, leading to rocketing prices and chaos at airports.
Zimbabwe’s national airline, Air Zimbabwe was also banned from flying in EU airspace because of international safety concerns.
The new carrier succeeds Royal Swazi National Airways, which ceased flying in 1999. Flights to Mbabane have since been operated by a joint venture between the government and SA’s Airlink, a partnership that has now been disbanded.
The carrier will rehire workers of Eswatini Airlink who are part of the partnership.