Staff Reporter
Windhoek-Air Namibia (SW) and Turkish Airlines (TK) signed a codeshare agreement yesterday. The agreement that will be effective as from March 01, 2017, covers routes between Turkey and Namibia, and is set to expand the travel opportunities for the passengers of the two airlines. The signing ceremony took place at Turkish Airlines’ Headquarters in İstanbul.
Namibia Deputy Minister of Works & Transport, Sankwasa James Sankwasa, and Turkish Airlines Deputy Chairman and CEO, Bilal Ekşi signed the deal in the presence of senior officials from both sides. This new codeshare agreement is expected to broaden the commercial partnership between the two companies and their respective countries. At the same time, passengers of both airlines will be given more travel options between Namibia and Turkey.
Under the terms of the agreement, Air Namibia and Turkish Airlines are planning to place codes on unilateral flights of SW on Windhoek – Johannesburg v.v. / Windhoek – Frankfurt v.v. and unilateral flights of TK on Istanbul – Johannesburg v.v. / İstanbul – Frankfurt v.v. Also it has been considered that, when SW introduces the Windhoek – İstanbul v.v. flights in future, this codeshare agreement will be expanded by placing the code to include beyond İstanbul flights.
Sankwasa expressed his satisfaction with this commercial partnership with a well-established and rapidly growing carrier like Turkish Airlines, which enjoys a broad route network. He also expressed that he is happy for Air Namibia to conduct this codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines and added that the deal is a crucial experience for the national airline. Sankwasa further stated that he is confident about this cooperation, which will be fruitful for both sides and will be enlarged very soon.
“Air Namibia is a small airline and in order to improve its competitiveness in this high competitive industry, it is important to have a strategic partner, such as Turkish Airlines. We believe that this will be just one of the many areas of cooperation between Turkish Airlines and Air Namibia, said Sankwasa.
“We are pleased to sign this codeshare agreement with Air Namibia and aim to improve our partnership to maximise the travel opportunities offered to our passengers through our flight networks. Air Namibia continues its expansion successfully and we believe this partnership between Turkish Airlines and Air Namibia will bring benefit to both carriers, not only from a commercial perspective, but also in cultural interactions between Turkey and Namibia while promoting business travel between two countries.” said Turkish Airlines’ Deputy Chairman and CEO, Bilâl Ekşi.