CEO of South Africa’s Airlink to step down after 33 years at the helm   

Johannesburg-based Airlink has announced it will undergo a change of leadership in 2025. The revelation comes following the decision by its current CEO and Managing Director, Rodger Foster, to step down at the end of March 2025 after almost 33 years at the company’s helm – the carrier’s entire history. Airlink’s current Chief Financial Officer, de Villiers Engelbrecht, will take over from Foster as the company’s new CEO with effect from  April 1, 2025. Foster will remain a shareholder in the airline and will continue serving as a non-executive director.

Foster has served as the CEO and Managing Director since co-founding the business in 1992 with co-founder Barrie Webb.  Airlink’s establishment coincided with the deregulation of South Africa’s domestic airline industry, allowing privately owned airlines to compete with the state-owned national carrier South African Airways (SAA) for the first time in the nation’s history.

Airlink was established in June 1992 when Foster and Webb acquired the assets and infrastructure of the insolvent Link Airways from its administrator. With a small mixed fleet of light commuter aircraft, Airlink set out to provide air connections to the communities and economies of smaller centers in South Africa that did not enjoy convenient air services. From its Johannesburg base, at what was then still called Jan Smuts International Airport, Airlink initially served the towns Pietersburg (now Polokwane), Pietermaritzburg, Bloemfontein, Nelspruit (now Mbombela), and Maseru.

BREAKING NEWS – Rodger Foster Hands Over Airlink Flight Controls.Read more here: https://t.co/UV1SogW9Xl pic.twitter.com/wu1IGuSBQP— Airlink (@Fly_Airlink) November 28, 2024 “It has been a privilege to have led Airlink through what has been an exciting, at times very challenging, but ultimately rewarding and fulfilling journey,” said Foster. However, after more than three decades in the post, it is time to hand over the flight controls to my successor and our Chief Financial Officer, de Villiers Engelbrecht, who has been involved in Airlink for over 20 years. He has served as a non-executive director for a period and joined as an executive in February 2011.”

“de Villiers is widely respected in the industry and has worked alongside me, helping to steady Airlink, repurpose it, and put the airline on a course for sustainable growth in the face of two existential threats to the company,” he added.

“These included Airlink’s separation from SAA due to SAA’s business rescue, followed closely by the COVID-19 travel restrictions which jolted air travel to a standstill. He has had hands-on exposure to all of the key elements that constitute the airline business and has the support of the entire executive team, the broader management as well as all our external stakeholders,” explained Foster.

“Airlink is a flourishing and resilient business. It has a strong balance sheet that has been bolstered by an equity injection from Qatar Airways Group’s acquisition of a 25 percent stake in the company. Since 2020 Airlink has built a constellation of commercial partnerships with many of the world’s leading airlines. None of this would have been possible without the tireless support of the entire dedicated, diligent, and professional Airlink team who it has been my privilege to lead,” Foster concluded.

Wirestock Creators / ShutterstockAirlink’s current fleet comprises of 67 Embraer regional jets. In the 2024 financial year (until 31 August 2024) more than four million passengers travelled on over 85,000 Airlink flights to 50 destinations in 15 countries including Madagascar and St Helena Island in the South Atlantic. The carrier is an International Air Transport Association (IATA) member and in August 2024, Qatar Airways acquired a 25% equity stake in the airline, with the deal becoming one of the most significant foreign investments in a South African airline to date.  

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