MBABANE – 17 years after the Swaziland government-owned air carrier, Royal Swazi Airlines financially collapsed in 1999, the airline has been revived as Swazi Airways. The first flight is scheduled for Durban the first week of February. Licensing is being finalised with the Independent Civil Aviation Authority (Icao).
“We have concluded almost all the pre-operational phases which included hiring staff, offices, facilities, and equipment. We have acquired the aircraft, done a little bit of marketing and our first flight is coming soon,” acting chief executive officer Guillermo Barrios told business and government leaders assembled for the airline launch this week.
The aircraft will have business and commercial sections, and will also carry airfreight, said Swazi Airways board chairperson Nokuthula Mthembu. A 110-passenger Boeing 737-500 aircraft has been leased and will be put on a thrice weekly flight schedule. On Mondays Swazi Airways will fly to Harare and Cape Town out of King Mswati III International Airport (KM3). Tuesday’s flight goes to Durban and then Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Flying from Dubai on Thursdays, the carrier goes to Harare and then Cape Town.
The airline promises to fly to Dubai in nine hours instead of the 12 to 14 hours usually clocked by other airlines.
Who exactly will fill the plane’s seats remains a mystery. When the R2-billion KM3 airport was opened in March 2014, it was projected that 360 000 passengers annually would be required to fly in and out for the facility to break even. The Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA) has reported that between January 1 and October 1 2015, 40 000 passengers flew into and out of Swaziland via the country’s only airport. As 100% stakeholder in Swazi Airlines, government has revived the carrier as a means to boost KM3 passenger numbers. At the launch, Barrios in essence said that the airline would be self-sustaining if people flew on it, and handed out questionnaires to dignitaries asking where they’d like to the carrier to take them.
