Airlink starts direct Cape Town–Mauritius flights

Airlink’s first direct service between Cape Town and Mauritius arrived on Friday, 2 October, bringing the South African airline’s new island route into operation.

The official arrivals board for Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport recorded flight 4Z350 from Cape Town as having arrived at 17:34 local time. That was 15:34 in South Africa, which is two hours behind Mauritius. Airlink’s own flight-status service also marked the flight as arrived.

The airport listed a scheduled arrival of 17:15 local time. Its record confirms that the inaugural outbound flight operated, following Airlink’s announcement of the route in June. The new connection is the airline’s first service to Mauritius.

Airlink announced an initial twice-weekly service using its Embraer E195-E2 aircraft. The airline’s published configuration for the route has 124 seats, comprising 12 in business class and 112 in economy. Its live flight-status page listed Friday’s aircraft type as ERJ295.

The airline said when announcing the service that the E195-E2’s range enabled it to connect Cape Town and Mauritius directly. Chief executive de Villiers Engelbrecht identified both business and leisure traffic as target markets for the connection.

Cape Town is Airlink’s second hub. The carrier said the airport connects its domestic and regional services with long-haul flights operated by partner airlines, giving the new route a role beyond travel originating in the Western Cape.

Airlink is joining an established non-stop market. Air Mauritius already lists Cape Town services in its published summer timetable, so Friday’s arrival adds another airline option on the corridor.

Image: Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. File photograph of an Embraer 190, 22 July 2022; not the inaugural E195-E2 flight. Any displayed crop is shared under the same licence.