Historically a partner of national airline South African Airways, in late 2020 Airlink changed its name from South African Airlink to Airlink and revised it livery to cancel any referral to the troubled flag carrier. The change was made to distinguish the company as an independent airline. Airlink had ended its 23-year franchise agreement with South African Airways in the early part of 2020. Operationally, the airline flies a vast domestic and Southern Africa network and in 2017 it was the first airline to ever fly to the island of Saint Helena, once prison of Napoleon Bonaparte. Onboard, it offers a proper business cabin with a 1+2 cross section layout (instead of the 2+2 in Economy) on its Embraer ERJ-190 and ERJ-170 regional jets (Photo Airlink)
- - 5 STARS: Awarded to airlines achieving a very high, overall quality performance. It recognizes high standards of onboard product together with consistent and excellent standards of staff service across airport and cabin environments
- - 4 STARS: Awarded to airlines that deliver a good overall quality performance and provide good product standards across different travel cabins
- - 3 STARS: Awarded to airlines delivering a fair quality performance equating to the industry 'average' of acceptable product and service standards
- - 2 STARS: Shows airlines delivering a lower total quality performance, in some instances below the industry average across many rating categories
- - 1 STAR: Represents a poor quality of product delivered across the assessment sectors