Through email, Karin Murray, Airlink's sales and marketing manager told Mmegi Business that they will start flying on March 22. The Kasane route is Airlink's second into Botswana after the airline broke Air Botswana's monopoly in the lucrative Johannesburg-Maun tourism route last year. Murray said the initial schedule for Kasane route is Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The flight departs OR Tambo at 11:45am arriving back in Johannesburg at 15:50 to optimise further out bound onward connections.Murray said that from August 2013, the service will operate daily. Airlink already has daily flights between Johannesburg and Maun. Murray said the new route offers the opportunity to extend the number of points serviced between South Africa and Botswana.
The addition of the route brings Airlink's network to 31 destinations, of which 15 are over-border destinations, she said. She said Kasane is an important tourism town as it is located where four countries meet, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These countries offer the globally marketed African wilderness tourism experience.Murray asserted that Airlink will complement Air Botswana which flies into Kasane and open up additional source markets to the Chobe, Botswana's tourism powerhouse in terms of visits. "Airlink believes that its global seamless connectivity with South African Airways and its Star Alliance coupled with a wide marketing reach will contribute to significant growth of Kasane," she said.Murray stated that they will with effect from March 22 increase capacity in the Johannesburg-Maun route. She said they are introducing an 87 seater RJ85 in the route. Airlink initially used 12 Embraer ERJ 135 with 37 seats to Maun. The ERJ 135 37 will now be used for the Kasane route.
