Airlink

If you stand at the fence in Johannesburg or Cape Town, you can’t miss Airlink. The regional airline flies only Embraer jets, in a range you will hardly find anywhere else: from the small ERJ 135 with three seats per row to the brand-new E195-E2. This page shows you how Airlink came to be, which types you can see and how to tell them apart cleanly.

Airlink at a glance

Airlink is a private South African regional airline based in Greenstone Hill, Ekurhuleni, in Greater Johannesburg. Its hubs are Johannesburg O. R. Tambo Airport and Cape Town. From there it connects South Africa’s provincial cities with one another and flies to numerous neighboring countries – from Namibia and Botswana via Mozambique and Zimbabwe to Zambia, Malawi, Madagascar and Kenya.

The airline was founded in 1992, when its two founders, Rodger Foster and Barrie Webb, took over the bankrupt Link Airways. In the early years it flew small turboprops and business aircraft, including the ATR 42 and Dornier 228. Later the Jetstream 41, BAe 146 and Avro RJ85 joined, before Airlink gradually switched to an all-Embraer fleet.

The long partnership with South African Airways was formative. From 1997, Airlink operated as a franchise partner under its brand and was long known as SA Airlink. In early 2020 this cooperation ended after about 23 years. Airlink dropped the “SA” from its name, has sold tickets under its own code 4Z ever since and has appeared in its own livery since November 2020.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code 4Z: appears in the flight number, on the departure board and on the ticket. Airlink received the code in 2008 but has only used it for its own ticket sales since 2020.
• ICAO code LNK: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers.
• Callsign LINK: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio – short and unambiguous.

Before 2020, many Airlink flights operated under South African Airways flight numbers. If you are sorting old logbooks or photos from that time, a second look is worthwhile: the flight number there doesn’t tell you who actually flew. How to read tracker data correctly is explained in the guide to flight tracking for spotters.

The fleet: only Embraer, but six families

Airlink relies exclusively on the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. Depending on the source, the fleet as of 2026 comprises around 70 aircraft; the exact number fluctuates because new E2 jets are just arriving. The types at a glance, with seat counts according to common fleet overviews:

Type	Seats (approx.)	Engines	Use	Spotter tip
Embraer ERJ 135	37	2 at the rear	thin routes, small airports	Shortest version of the ERJ family
Embraer ERJ 140	44	2 at the rear	regional routes	Slightly longer than the ERJ 135, rare worldwide
Embraer E170 / E175	74–88	2 under the wing	medium routes	Smallest E-Jets in the fleet
Embraer E190	98	2 under the wing	backbone of the network	Most common type in the fleet
Embraer E195	107	2 under the wing	busier routes	Longest first-generation E-Jet
Embraer E195-E2	136	2 large geared turbofan engines	trunk routes such as Johannesburg–Durban	New since late 2025, ten leased aircraft through 2027

The E190 is the airline’s workhorse – it’s the one you see Airlink fly most often. Of particular interest to collectors, on the other hand, are the ERJ 140s: this version was built only in small numbers, and according to fleet overviews Airlink still operates it in the double digits.

The E195-E2 is the newest addition. Airlink is leasing ten examples in total from the leasing company Azorra. The first aircraft arrived in South Africa from September 2025. According to Airlink, the E2 burns significantly less fuel than the older E195 – up to 29 percent is quoted. The first E2s are configured in a single class with 136 seats; later deliveries are meant to get a two-class cabin.

ERJ or E-Jet? How to sort the Airlink fleet

At Airlink, two very different Embraer generations stand side by side. The good news: you can make the first distinction with the naked eye.

Within the E-Jets it gets finer, and a look at the landing gear as an identification feature can help, too. The E170 and E175 are the short versions, the E190 and E195 the long ones. You recognize the E195-E2 by its much larger engines with a very large fan diameter, by its longer, slimmer wings and by the fact that it doesn’t carry the classic upswept winglets of the first generation but a gently tapering wingtip. A detailed guide with all the details is in the article How to tell Embraer E-Jets apart.

With the ERJ 135 and ERJ 140, appearance helps little: both look almost the same and differ mainly in length. Here the registration is your best friend. How to tell regional jets apart in general is shown in the guide Recognizing regional jets.

How to recognize Airlink

Since November 2020, Airlink has worn its own livery, which deliberately breaks with the former SAA look. On the tail sits the Sunbird, a stylized bird shown in front of the warm colors of a sunrise. The fuselage stays mostly white with the “Airlink” titles. The Sunbird has been the logo since a redesign in 2006, but back then in a color scheme similar to before – what has been new since 2020 is mainly how it is staged on the tail.

Because the changeover happened gradually, on older photos you still find Airlink aircraft in a look reminiscent of South African Airways. If you are sorting your archive, pay attention to the date the photo was taken. You can read more about how colors, logos and titles work together in a livery in the article Livery design explained.

A second feature is the registration: Airlink aircraft are registered in South Africa and carry the prefix ZS-. How registrations are built in general is explained in the guide Understanding aircraft registrations.

The network: from Kruger Park to St. Helena

Airlink’s network is tailored to southern Africa. Within South Africa the airline connects major cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Gqeberha as well as smaller destinations such as Upington, Kimberley or George. Add to that flights to the safari areas, including Skukuza in Kruger National Park and Hoedspruit. For long-haul passengers, Airlink is thus often the last leg on the way to the lodge.

Across borders, Airlink flies to a whole series of neighboring countries: to Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Eswatini, Lesotho, Angola, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as Madagascar, Mauritius and Kenya. According to Airlink, the network comprises more than 45 destinations; the exact number changes with the schedule.

A special chapter is St. Helena. The remote island in the South Atlantic only got an airport late, and in October 2017 Airlink started the first scheduled service there – with an E190 from Johannesburg via Walvis Bay in Namibia. Among aviation fans the route is considered one of the most unusual regional routes ever.

The corporate web also includes Airlink Cargo and a 40 percent stake in Namibia’s FlyNamibia, which has existed since 2022. Since August 2024, Qatar Airways has held 25 percent of Airlink – the highest foreign share permitted under South African law. The airline remains independent. How the Gulf carriers extend their networks through partners in Africa and Asia is described in the article on the business model of the Gulf airlines.

Spotting Airlink: where and when

The best place for Airlink is Johannesburg O. R. Tambo. At the main hub the airline is present all day long, and besides Airlink you see South African Airways, FlySafair and many international long-haul visitors there. Tips on spots and procedures on site are in the guide Plane spotting in South Africa.

Cape Town is the second hub and also offers plenty of Airlink traffic, depending on the position with a mountain backdrop behind. Durban, George or Gqeberha are smaller airports where you can experience Airlink up close in a relaxed way. If you’re after the rarer types, you should deliberately look at smaller destinations, because the ERJ 135 and ERJ 140 fly mainly on thinner routes.

The types on a route change depending on demand. The combination of flight tracker and registration is therefore the surest way to catch a specific type. In South Africa, as everywhere, wind and runway direction in use determine which spot works.

Placing Airlink in southern Africa

In the South African market, Airlink has a role of its own. FlySafair flies as a low-cost carrier with Boeing 737s, mainly on the big domestic routes. South African Airways is the traditional network carrier with an Airbus fleet. Airlink, by contrast, serves routes with smaller jets where larger aircraft aren’t worthwhile – and connects the region across borders.

A merger with FlySafair negotiated in 2018 was rejected by the South African Competition Commission, and the application was later withdrawn. Measured by the number of flights, Airlink ranked among Africa’s largest airlines in 2021. For spotters this means: if you are traveling in southern Africa, you have an Airlink aircraft in your viewfinder almost guaranteed.

In the rest of Africa, at Airlink destinations you meet other airlines with regional ambitions, such as Kenya Airways in Nairobi, Air Mauritius in Mauritius or Ethiopian Airlines at many airports on the continent.

Common mix-ups

• Mistaking Airlink for an SAA subsidiary – the franchise ended in 2020, Airlink is a private, independent airline.
• Thinking every E190 in southern Africa is Airlink – only the Sunbird, a ZS registration and LNK on the tracker confirm the identification.
• Identifying the ERJ 135 and ERJ 140 by eye – both look almost the same; the registration decides.
• Logging the E195-E2 as an E195 – look for the large engines and the long wing.
• Misclassifying old photos – before 2020 Airlink flew in a look modeled on SAA and often under SAA flight numbers.
• Assigning Airlink to an alliance – the airline belongs neither to Star Alliance nor oneworld or SkyTeam, but works through codeshares.

Conclusion

Airlink is the Embraer specialist of southern Africa. A small turboprop airline from 1992 has become one of the continent’s most important regional airlines, which today flies with its own code and its own brand. For spotters, it’s above all the fleet that makes it appealing: ERJs, first-generation E-Jets and the new E2 at a single airline – plus destinations from Kruger Park all the way to St. Helena.