BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – It looks like failure is not an option for Eswatini Air from now onwards, as the aviation company has been able to fly 28 000 people in its maiden year of operation.
The company made it clear that it also wanted to add other flights to the four that it already has. Speaking on Eswatini TV, Eswatini Air Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ndumiso Shongwe said in the meantime, they were working on strategies to keep their flights on air because that was how the company made money.
He mentioned that the costs of operations were becoming a challenge on the company. “This means that we have to diversify and we are looking at how we can start transporting cargo,” Shongwe said. He said when they started, they did not expect to make profits from the first year, but they could expect that profits could be made in the third year of operation. Shongwe thanked Emaswati for showing massive support to the company since it started operating.
According to its own website, Eswatini Air is the national airline of the Kingdom of Eswatini and a strategic business unit within the Royal Eswatini National Airways Corporation’s (RENAC) portfolio of aviation services.
The company started operating on March 26 last year, when it took to the skies for the first time, using its first aircraft, the Embraer ERJ 145. The first flight was from King Mswati III (KM III) International Airport in Sikhuphe to Oliver Reginald Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Eswatini Air also services routes from KM III to places such as King Shaka International Airport in Durban (South Africa), Cape Town International Airport (South Africa), and Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare (Zimbabwe).
According to Wikipedia, Eswatini Air originally planned to commence operations in June 2022. However, the airline secured an Airline Operator Certificate (AOC) in December 2022 after some delays. Operations commenced on 26 March 2023 with twice-daily flights to Johannesburg, with the necessary foreign operator permits granted by South Africa. Harare, Zimbabwe was added in April 2023, and Durban and Cape Town were added to the network by June 2023. The company now has two aircrafts of the same type used to service its customers.
