Fly to 18 destinations in Southern Africa with a new British Airways codeshare

The final collapse of Comair, back in 2022, left a bit of a gap in the British Airways South Africa network.

Previously, British Airways offered a number of onward connections from Johannesburg and Cape Town through Comair. It operated its own aircraft under a British Airways franchise agreement with BA branding.

Flights included Durban, Port Elizabeth and international connections to Windhoek, Mauritius and Harare.

If you’ve never flown Comair, it was a fascinating experience.  You were on a BA-branded aircraft with crew in British Airways uniform, operating to BA service standards.

In 2020, Comair hit some turbulence as a result of the pandemic and entered Business Rescue, similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US. This allowed it to raise new money and relaunch operations.

Unfortunately, that didn’t last long and the airline collapsed for good in June 2022, leaving British Airways without convenient flight connections within Southern Africa.

British Airways signs a codeshare deal with Airlink

Eight months later, British Airways has found a solution by partnering with African airline Airlink which offers flights to more than 45 destinations.

British Airways will offer codeshare services on 18 of these routes. Any codeshare flights booked as a connection to a British Airways international leg will continue to earn Avios and tier points, as if it was operated by British Airways.

There are two things you cannot do:

• redeem Avios for Airlink flights

• book Airlink flights with a BA flight number, to earn Avios or tier points, if you are not connecting to a British Airways long haul service on the same ticket

You will arrive on time to your destination according to the press release:

“Airlink has consistently been the most on-time domestic airline over the last three years, with its fleet of more than 60 modern jetliners achieving a 95.52% average on-time performance in 2022.”

Destinations included in the first wave of the codeshare agreement are:

• Bloemfontein
• Durban
• East London
• George Airport
• Hoedspruit
• Kimberley
• Nelspruit
• Pietermaritzburg
• Polokwane
• Port Elizabeth
• Richards Bay
• Sishen
• Skukuza
• Umtata
• Upington
• Windhoek
• Walvis Bay

Airlink predominantly operates a fleet of Embraer jet aircraft, so you should get an experience similar to that on BA CityFlyer. A complimentary meal service is also provided.

You can now book on the British Airways website here, for travel from 15th February.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.