Sunset for Airlink’s Avro RJ85s? RJ85 ZS-ASX is seen at Johannesburg (Stefano Pagiola)

South Africa’s Airlink has announced that it intends to replace its fleet of 12 Avro RJ85s with Embraer E-Jets over the next three years. The airline has already agreed to acquire three ERJ 170s and two ERJ 190s from Embraer subsidiary ECC Leasing, and is looking for an additional eight ERJ 190s. Adding E-Jets was a natural move for Airlink, as it already operates ERJ 135s, 140s, and 145s. Airlink first acquired BAe 146s in 2007.

Recent news items on Airlink:

• Atlantic Star bid for St Helena service rejected (2017-05-04)
• Airlink Avro RJ85 flies to St. Helena (2017-05-03)
• Airlink Avro RJ85 in hijack alert (2016-07-12)
• BAE Systems signs Airlink to remodelled JetSpares Program (2015-10-15)
• Two more Avro RJ85s delivered to Airlink (2014-03-31)