Qatar Airways Acquires 25% Stake in South Africa’s Airlink

Ending months of suspense, Qatar Airways, the national carrier on Tuesday announced that it has acquired a minority stake of 25% stake in Southern Africa’s premier independent regional Airlink in line with South Africa’s regulated cap on foreign ownership in local airlines.

This investment will further cement Qatar Airways’ position as a key driver in realising economic and business potential on the African continent.

The investment in Airlink – which flies to more than 45 destinations in 15 African countries – will enhance a code-sharing partnership between the two airlines. The deal will bolster Qatar Airways’ Africa growth strategy and cement its role as a key driver to the continent’s economic success.

Qatar Airways Group CEO Badr Mohammed Al-Meer said that their investment in Airlink further demonstrates how integral the company saw Africa being to their business’ future.

“This partnership not only demonstrates our confidence in Airlink, as a company that is resilient, agile, financially robust and governed on sound principles, but also in Africa as a whole, showing huge potential that I am delighted we are able to help start realising,” he added.

Airlink CEO and Managing Director Rodger Foster said that having Qatar Airways as an equity partner is a powerful endorsement of Airlink and echoed their faith in the markets they were currently serving and plans to add to our network.

He added: “This transaction will unlock growth by providing efficiencies of scale, increasing our capacity and expanding our marketing reach. By bolstering Airlink and its business, this investment will strengthen all of the existing airline partnerships Airlink has nurtured over the years.”

Speaking to ch-aviation on the deal, Foster said that Airlink does need to up-gauge to larger single-aisle/narrow body aircraft for some of the trunk routes where we need to achieve lower unit costs and with Qatar Airways, we will definitely be exploring potential opportunities and benefits relating to fleet planning.

Airlink is also keen to access Central- and East African routes like Johannesburg O.R. Tambo-Kigali, dominated by RwandAir.  The South African carrier is designated to operate to Kigali, and the partnership with Qatar Airways could help remove barriers to Airlink entering that market, Foster said in the past.

“There may be closer working relationships that can emerge through the common tie to Qatar,” he said.

The partnership between Qatar Airways and Airlink seeks to align both carriers’ loyalty programs – Qatar Airways Privilege Club and Airlink Skybucks.

More Acquisitions

Qatar Airways is also finalising a 49% investment in East African carrier, RwandAir (WB, Kigali). Al-Meer said that Southern Africa was missing in the carrier’s African network, following a partnership with Royal Air Maroc (AT, Casablanca Mohamed V) in North Africa.

Qatar Airways currently flies to 29 destinations in Africa, and there’s been strong growth in the market with new destinations added to the Qatar Airways network on the continent since December 2020.

Abidjan, Abuja, Accra, Harare, Kano, Luanda, Lusaka, and Port Harcourt are the African cities newly added to the extensive Qatar Airways network, while Cairo and Alexandria were resumed.