[5] Airlink was formed in 1992 by business partners Rodger Foster and Barrie Webb, following the purchase of the liquidated Link Airways business,[6] which had incorporated a range of other airlines: Midlands Aviation (founded in 1967), Lowveld Aviation Services, Magnum Airlines, Border Air and Citi Air.

[7] In 1995, SA Airlink officially launched on 25 March at a gathering of important guests, including Queen Elizabeth II.

Later that year, the airline aligned its branding with that of South African Airways and joined their Voyager frequent-flyer programme.

[8] In 1999, South African Airlink entered into a joint venture with the government of Swaziland (now Eswatini) to create a new airline[8] to replace the defunct Royal Swazi National Airways.

[12] No other commercial airliner landed at St Helena until 14 October 2017, when Airlink began history's first scheduled commercial airline service to Saint Helena Airport, with an Embraer E190 with 78 passengers aboard arriving after a flight of about six hours from Johannesburg, with a stop at Walvis Bay, Namibia.

The application was turned down by the South African Competition Commission on the basis that it believed that regional airline SA Airlink and low-cost carrier FlySafair were competitors.

[13] On 12 November 2020, Airlink unveiled a new livery,[8] dropping any similarities to the South African Airways brand and incorporating the Sunbird logo set against sunrise colours as the main focal point of the new tail insignia.

In September 2022, Airlink acquired a 40% stake, labelled a strategic equity holding, in Namibian airline FlyNamibia for an undisclosed sum.

[17] Qatar Airways' stake is the maximum foreign ownership amount permissible under South African law.

[citation needed] The frequent flyer program will include three membership tiers, with eligibility determined by the number of sectors or legs of a journey flown in 12 months.

Since August 2022 Airlink's premium and qualifying passengers travelling on its domestic and regional flights, have access to SLOW lounges at Johannesburg's, Cape Town's and Durban's international airports.