Eswatini, officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and also known by its former official name Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its north, west, south, and southeast. At no more than 200 km (120 mi) north to south and 130 km (81 mi) east to west, Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa; despite this, its climate and topography are diverse, ranging from a cool and mountainous highveld to a hot and dry lowveld.
Public transport is the main means of transportation in Eswatini. Car ownership is low, at 89 cars per 1,000 people (2014). The National Road Network has 1500 km of main roads and 2270 km of district roads.
Mswati III is Ngwenyama (King) of Eswatini and head of the Swazi royal family.
Eswatini Airlink was a regional airline based in Matsapha, Eswatini, and was the flag carrier of that country.
Royal Swazi National Airways Corporation was the national airline of the Kingdom of Swaziland. Headquartered in Mbabane with its operational base at Matsapha Airport near Manzini, the airline was founded in 1978. The company still exists, since 2018 under the name Royal Eswatini National Airways Corporation (RENAC), although it does not own an airline, but provides services in the airline sector.
Lobamba is a city in Eswatini, and is one of the two capitals, serving as the legislative, traditional, spiritual, seat of government of the Parliament of Eswatini, and Ludzidzini Royal Village, the residence of Queen Ntfombi, the Queen Mother.
Montgomery Regional Airport is a civil-military airport seven miles southwest of Montgomery, the capital of Alabama. Owned by the Montgomery Airport Authority, it is used for general aviation and military aviation, and sees two airlines.
Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport is three miles northwest of Roanoke, Virginia. It is governed by the five-member Roanoke Regional Airport Commission, which includes representatives from both the city and county of Roanoke. The airport has two runways and an average of 116 operations a day; it covers 912 acres.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, and formerly known as Harare International Airport and Salisbury Airport, is an international airport in Harare, Zimbabwe. It is the largest airport in the country and serves as the base of Air Zimbabwe, the national flag carrier. It is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe.
Faisalabad International Airport is an international airport and standby Pakistan Air Force military base situated on Jhang Road, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southwest of the city centre of Faisalabad, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The airport is home to two flying schools who use the airfield for regular training for new cadets and aviation enthusiasts.
Manzini is a large city in Eswatini (Swaziland), which is also the capital of Eswatini's Manzini Region. The city is the country's second largest urban center behind the capital Mbabane, with a population of 110,000 (2008). It is known as "The Hub" of Eswatini and lies on the MR3 road. Eswatini's primary industrial site at Matsapha lies near the town's western border.
Airlink, is a regional airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Its main business is to provide services between smaller, under-served towns and larger hub airports. It has since expanded to offer flights on larger, mainline routes. The airline has a network of more than 60 routes to over 45 destinations in Southern Africa. In January 2021, it became the second-largest carrier within Africa by number of flights, and third-largest by number of seats.
Phalaborwa Airport is an airport serving Phalaborwa, a town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. It was previously known as Hendrik van Eck Airport, named after the South African engineer and industrialist who died in 1970. The airport borders the Kruger National Park.
Matsapha is a town in central Eswatini. The Matsapha urban boundary is defined in the Urban Government Act of 1969, as amended in 2012, and covers an area of approximately 2,000 hectares. Matsapha was established as an industrial park in 1965 and was officially gazetted as an urban area in 1969. Matsapha is located in the Upper Middleveld of Eswatini in the Manzini region, which is in the centre of the country. Matsapha is 11 km (7 mi) from the city of Manzini, the country's commercial capital, and 35 km (22 mi) from Mbabane, the administrative capital of the country. It is well located as it is on Eswatini's main east–west axis between South Africa and Mozambique, 16 km (10 mi) from the junction of the Lavumisa road that leads to Durban and KwaZulu Natal. It lies at an altitude of 625 m (2,051 ft) above sea level.
King Mswati III International Airport, initially named Sikhuphe International Airport in the planning and construction phase, is an airport in Eswatini. It replaced Matsapha Airport in 2014 as the only international airport in Eswatini that caters to commercial flights. It is designed to handle 360,000 passengers per year.
Swazi Airways was a Swazi airline based at King Mswati III International Airport in Manzini. It is the successor to Royal Swazi National Airways and is fully owned by the Swaziland Government. The airline had stated in September 2016 that it would commence flights in November, flying from Manzini to destinations in South Africa and Zimbabwe. It was closed down in July 2017.
Airlink Cargo is a division of SA Airlink (Pty) Ltd and provides air freight transport services to over 35 destinations across Southern Africa from its base at O. R. Tambo International Airport. The division was formed in 2011 after one British Aerospace Jetstream 41 passenger aircraft belonging to parent company Airlink was converted for freight operations, followed the next year by a second aircraft. Freight is also carried on Airlink Cargo's behalf by Airlink and Swaziland Airlink across the region. Airlink Cargo is headquartered on the grounds of their hub near Johannesburg, South Africa.
Eswatini–India relations refers to the international relations that exist between Eswatini and India. India also maintains a resident High Commission in Mbabane established on 13 August, 2019. Eswatini does not have a diplomatic mission in India.
A series of protests in Eswatini against the absolute monarchy and for democratisation began in late June 2021. Starting as a peaceful protest on 20 June, they escalated after 25 June into violence and looting over the weekend when the government took a hardline stance against the demonstrations and prohibited the delivery of petitions.
