Airlink

Is Airlink safe?

Mostly, yes. Airlink has never lost a passenger, holds IOSA registrationIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary and answers to the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), which is in the FAA's Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary and scored a preliminary 95% in an ICAO validation in 2026. Its weaker points are an accident record that includes a fatal crash and two written-off aircraft in 2009, and a run of runway excursionsRunway excursionWhen an aircraft leaves the runway surface during take-off or landing, either off the end (an overrun) or off the side (a veer-off).More in the glossary on African airports since 2024. We score it 73, below FlySafair (79) and South African Airways (77).

Airlink is South Africa's regional airline. It was founded in the early 1990s from the remains of the liquidated Link Airways and today flies mostly Embraer jets to South African towns, more than a dozen other African countries and the island of St Helena.

Airlink after SAA

For more than 20 years Airlink flew as a franchise of South African Airways, selling seats under SA flight numbers. That ended in 2020. After SAA entered business rescue it stopped passing on money for tickets Airlink had flown, and Airlink gave notice on the franchise. It has flown under its own 4Z code since 11 June 2020. Because the 2009 accidents happened on Airlink's own certificate, they count here, not on SAA's page, even though the flight numbers began with SA.

The 2009 crashes

On 24 September 2009 a Jetstream 41 took off from Durban on a positioning flight to Pietermaritzburg with two pilots and a flight attendant. Just before lift-off a seal in the right engine failed from fatigue. The crew misidentified the failed engine and shut down the good one; the aircraft came down in a field in the Merebank residential area, hit a pole and a fence, and broke in two. All three were badly hurt and the captain died on 7 October. A person on the ground was also injured. SACAA's investigators blamed the crew's response and a failure to use the crew resource management and engine-failure procedures in Airlink's own manuals.

Ten weeks later, on 7 December 2009, an ERJ-135 landing in light rain at George aquaplaned, could not stop on the 2,000-metre runway and ran through the approach lights and the perimeter fence onto a public road. Ten people had minor injuries and the aircraft was written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary. Investigators found that the runway, resurfaced a month earlier, had lost much of its grip when wet and that the airport had not warned crews. They also found that the jet crossed the threshold 15 knots fast, the brakes went on late and two main tyres were worn almost smooth.

Since then: engines, birds and wet runways

The most serious later event was a maintenance error. On 8 November 2017 an Avro RJ85 flying from Harare at 34,000 feet had an uncontained failure of its number 2 engine. Debris hit the engine next to it, which also failed, leaving the jet with both left-side engines out. The crew continued 240 nautical miles to Johannesburg and landed safely. Investigators found that a turbine disc had been fitted using the wrong procedure, with a reused retaining nut.

The events since 2024 have involved the Embraer fleet:

• Pemba, Mozambique, January 2024. An ERJ-135 aquaplaned off the end of the wet runway. Nobody was hurt and the aircraft was not damaged.
• Johannesburg, August 2024. An ERJ-135 crew smelled smoke in the cockpit, put on oxygen masks and returned. Investigators rated it a serious incident.
• Windhoek, February 2025. An E190 landing in heavy rain drifted right, touched down off the centreline and ran about 490 metres on the grass before getting back onto the runway. Neither the tower nor the fire crew noticed.
• Cape Town, August 2026. Two E190s flew over the stadium before a rugby Test, about 46 feet above the roof according to flight tracking. Airlink says SACAA approved the display and that it kept to the limits; SACAA checked its compliance, and the result is not public yet.

Wildlife is a regular problem. A large bird broke a propeller blade on a Jetstream 41 landing at Venetia Mine in 2022, sending fragments into the cabin, and an E190 hit three impala landing at Hoedspruit in December 2024. Neither investigation blamed the crews; the Venetia report cited poor wildlife control at the airfield.

How to fly Airlink safely

• Check who flies your flight. Airlink sells codeshares with other airlines, and partner flights on its own tickets are covered by the partner's record, not this score.
• Expect weather delays on remote routes. St Helena, Mozambique in the rainy season and the Lowveld game-reserve airports are where Airlink's crews face the hardest conditions.
• Keep your seat belt on until the aircraft stops. Two of the recent events were runway excursionsRunway excursionWhen an aircraft leaves the runway surface during take-off or landing, either off the end (an overrun) or off the side (a veer-off).More in the glossary after landing in heavy rain.

How we scored it

Oversight (84) is the strongest factor: an FAA Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary state with IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary and no published finding against Airlink. The accident record (80) has no fatal accident in 15 years; the fatal 2009 crash, a second write-offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary the same year and the 2017 engine failure keep it at the floor of that band. Incidents (60) and the network of small African airports (60) cost the most. A fleet (62) of mostly Embraer E-Jets with new E2s arriving, but still older ERJs, completes the overall 73.