The outgoing CEO and co-founder of Airlink, the privately owned regional airline serving a network of destinations throughout Southern Africa, will leave behind an organisation that rakes in nearly R1bn in revenue a year.
Rodger Foster will step down as CEO and MD of Airlink at the end of March, ending a long stretch of 33 years at the helm of the company he cofounded in 1992.
Airlink told the Companies Tribunal that it generated an income of R1.4bn-R10bn between 2011 and 2023.
This came as the company tried in vain to have the tribunal rule that an outfit called Skylink change its name, saying it creates the impression that the two companies are linked.
The tribunal found Airlink did not advance sufficient reasons as to why Skylink’s trademark offends its brand name.
“It cannot be denied that the word ‘link’ appears on both the applicant’s trademark and the first respondent’s name. However, the confusion is not illustrated. There is nothing in the applicant’s affidavit that indicates that the word ‘link’ creates any confusion,” reads the tribunal’s ruling, handed down in December.
“Instead, the applicant’s case is clearly that the usage of the word ‘Sky’ in the first respondent’s name is confusingly similar to the word ‘Air’ in its trademark. There is no merit to this contention.
“The applicant failed to demonstrate that the first respondent’s name falsely implies, suggests, or is presented in such a way as to reasonably mislead a person to incorrectly believe that the first respondent is part of or associated with the applicant.”
In its application, Airlink reveals the reach of the business, stating that about 3.5-million passengers fly with the company through its fleet of more than 68 aircraft.
The company was established in the early 1990s when Forster and Barrie Webb successfully bid for liquidated Link Airways and renamed it Airlink.
The company has grown to be the largest regional airline in the subregion, operating an extensive network.
Its network connects SA cities and towns to countries including Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe as well as to the remote island of St Helena in the South Atlantic.
Group CFO De Villiers Engelbrecht will take control of the business from April. Forster will retain his shareholding in the company and seat on the board, which also has former Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko.
Airlink’s balance sheet was last year boosted by equity injection from Qatar Airways Group, which bought a 25% stake in the airline, marking one of the most significant foreign investments in an SA airline.
The company at some point had a franchise partnership with SAA and SA Express, a relationship that ended in 2020 when the national carrier went into business rescue. Airlink in 2022 became a franchiser to FlyNamibia.
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