Summary
- FlyNamibia plans to launch latest routes to Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Angola, expanding its regional destinations and increasing tourism connectivity in Southern Africa.
- The airline can even increase its fleet through Westair Aviation and expects to introduce flights to Luanda within the near future.
- Namibia Airports Company goals to reinforce connectivity and attract more airlines to the country, with plans to expand routes in Southern Africa, in addition to explore connections to Europe, the Middle East, and potentially the USA and the Far East.
Namibia’s only energetic scheduled carrier, FlyNamibia, has announced plans to launch three latest regional destinations from Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH). The airline’s Managing Director, Andre Compion, disclosed this on the AviaDev Insight Africa podcast. The expansion also aligns with the Namibia Airports Company’s ambitions to reinforce regional connectivity.
Expanding horizons
FlyNamibia will launch flights from Windhoek to Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) in Zimbabwe, Maun International Airport (MUB) in Botswana, and Luanda (LAD) in Angola, greater than tripling its current variety of regional destinations. While schedules haven’t been released, the brand new routes are expected to start in April 2024. Compion added that the airline is now in the ultimate phase of introducing Luanda flights.
With this expansion, FlyNamibia can even increase the variety of aircraft it operates through Westair Aviation. In accordance with Planespotters.net, the Windhoek-based carrier has 4 Embraer ERJ-145s in its fleet, all leased from Westair. It also expects delivery of an ERJ-135, previously operated by Air Namibia. It is necessary to notice that the carrier is 60% owned by Westair and 40% by Airlink, and uses the latter’s 4Z code.
Photo: Gunter Nuyts | Shutterstock
The brand new destinations allow the carrier to extend travel in Southern Africa by connecting among the region’s hottest tourist cities. Maun is referred to as the ‘tourism capital’ of Botswana, while Victoria Falls is amongst probably the most visited destinations in Southern Africa. The launch of Luanda flights could also put the carrier within the position to serve the hundreds of Namibian visitors from Angola, in addition to other nationalities connecting via Luanda. FlyNamibia recently launched flights between Walvis Bay (WVB) and Cape Town (CPT), its only destination outside Namibia.
Understanding Namibia’s connectivity ambitions
In one other episode, AviaDev CEO Jon Howell spoke to the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) CEO Bisey Uirab to know the country’s connectivity and aviation development ambitions. NAC manages eight airports in Namibia – two international (WDH and WBV) and 6 domestic. FlyNamibia is currently the one carrier servicing the domestic routes.
Through its largest and principal airport in Windhoek, Namibia is connected to 5 destinations in Africa, one in Europe, and one within the Middle East. The routes are served by the next carriers:
- Johannesburg-Windhoek: Airlink and South African Airways
- Cape Town-Windhoek: Airlink and FlyNamibia
- Luanda-Windhoek: TAAG Angola
- Addis Ababa-Windhoek: Ethiopian Airlines
- Victoria Falls-Windhoek: Discover Airlines
- Frankfurt-Windhoek: Discover Airlines
- Doha-Windhoek: Qatar Airways
In the following five months, FlyNamibia will add a brand new connection to Maun, which is currently unserved. Qatar Airways operates three weekly B787 Dreamliner flights to Windhoek, however the service might be suspended from November 21. Discover Airlines operates about ten weekly flights from Frankfurt with the Airbus A330. Interestingly, the carrier’s first industrial flight with the brand new liveried widebody was on this route on November 11.
Photo: Discover Airlines
The Namibia Airports Company will engage various stakeholders from the business community, the tourism sector, and the federal government to proceed marketing Namibia as a business and tourism destination, inviting more airlines and international arrivals. It can also work to take care of the present network and support the airlines serving Namibia as much as possible.
Regarding regional connectivity, Bisey Uirab stated that the NAC is trying to expand its routes and link Windhoek to Harare (HRE), Lusaka (LUN), Gaborone (GBE), and Durban (DUR) to say a couple of. It also wants so as to add more connections to Europe, constructing on the strong historical links between Namibia and various European cities. The Middle East can be into consideration as a super location for passengers connecting to several destinations worldwide. The US and the Far East are also within the cards, however the NAC’s focus is on Europe and the Middle East.
What are your thoughts on FlyNamibia and the NAC’s development plans? Will you be visiting Namibia soon? Please tell us within the comments!
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