Airlink will resume its scheduled services between Johannesburg and Antananarivo from January 30, 2023. This decision comes on the backdrop of Madagascar’s decision to lift an effective three-year ban on commercial flights from South Africa.
Welcoming this decision, Rodger Foster, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airlink said: “We are looking forward to re-connecting South Africa with Madagascar and resuming our role in support of the recovery of ties between the two markets.”
The airline will deploy its E170LR or E190 on the route with weekly services for the first two weeks before increasing to three flights weekly from February 14, 2023. The airline plans to resume daily services as demand rises.
Madagascar continued to block all flights to and from South Africa despite of lifting of all pandemic related restrictions on March 3, 3033. The reason was a dispute between Antananarivo and Pretoria over 73.5 kilograms of smuggled gold and $20,000 seized at Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport on December 31, 2020, from three passengers who had arrived from Madagascar.
The government had demanded the return of the assets and the extradition of its nationals, now jailed in South Africa. The route to South Africa stayed closed pending the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two nations to combat the smuggling of national resources.
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