Airlink has launched two new international routes from Cape Town International Airport, introducing direct services to Mauritius and Zanzibar on consecutive days.
The South African regional airline launched its first-ever Cape Town-Mauritius service on 2 October, followed by the inaugural Cape Town-Zanzibar flight on 3 October. Both routes are operated by Airlink’s Embraer E195-E2 aircraft, expanding the airline’s international network from its Cape Town base.
Cape Town-Mauritius
Airlink’s Cape Town-Mauritius service launched on Friday, 2 October, with the inaugural flight operating as 4Z350.
The flight departed Cape Town International Airport at 10:22, around 17 minutes after its scheduled 10:05 departure, bound for Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport in Mauritius.
The new service operates twice weekly and marks Airlink’s first route to Mauritius. The airline is using its E195-E2 on the route, with the aircraft configured with 124 seats, comprising 12 Business Class and 112 Economy Class seats.
Airlink has previously stated that the E195-E2’s additional range has enabled it to connect Cape Town with Mauritius directly, allowing the airline to serve the market with a smaller aircraft suited to the route. The aircraft has a range of up to 3,000 nautical miles (5,556 kilometres), giving Airlink greater flexibility to operate longer regional routes from Cape Town.
Cape Town-Zanzibar
A day after the Mauritius launch, Airlink introduced its second new international route from Cape Town with the inaugural service to Zanzibar.
Flight 4Z356 departed Cape Town International Airport at 08:27 on Saturday, 3 October, following its scheduled 08:15 departure. The service arrived at Abeid Amani Karume International Airport at 14:15, ahead of its scheduled 14:30 arrival.
The flight was operated by E195-E2 registered ZS-LKK, completing the journey in 4 hours and 49 minutes.
The Cape Town-Zanzibar service operates once weekly on Saturdays. It becomes Airlink’s second route to Zanzibar after the airline launched its Johannesburg-Zanzibar service in June 2026.
The new Cape Town service provides a direct connection between the Western Cape and Tanzania’s Zanzibar Archipelago, eliminating the need for passengers travelling between the two destinations to connect elsewhere.
Expanding Cape Town’s International Network
The introduction of the two services gives Airlink additional international capacity from Cape Town while making use of the E195-E2’s range and right sized capacity.
The aircraft has become an increasingly important part of Airlink’s network strategy since entering service, allowing the airline to operate longer routes while retaining the capacity of a regional jet.
With the launches of Mauritius and Zanzibar taking place on consecutive days, Airlink has added two Indian Ocean destinations to its Cape Town network and further expanded the range of international markets served directly from the city.
