After months of being grounded from international flights, since the state of emergency necessitated by Covid-19, Air Namibia will finally take to foreign skies again as it will resume weekly flights to Johannesburg and Cape Town as of 28 October 2020. The national airline’s Windhoek to Johannesburg direct route will be operated on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, whereas two flights between Windhoek and Cape Town (direct & via Walvis Bay) will be operated on weekends, namely Fridays and Sundays.
Air Namibia’s interim CEO, Theo Mberirua, said the restart of the two routes is in line with the airline’s restart plan, following the long layoff due to Covid-19. “The decision to launch these routes is in line with Air Namibia’s mandate and purpose for existence – creating air transport linkages to promote intra-Africa connectivity and regional integration,” Mberirua explained. He added; “Although the airline normally operates an extensive schedule that requires multiple destinations in order to feed the entire network, the move by Air Namibia to breathe new life into these two routes will provide smooth and convenient connections inbound and outbound, connecting Namibia to the world, and the world to Namibia.”
With the high season for the air travel market looming and holidaymakers planning to visit the neighbouring country and vice versa, Air Namibia’s operations are expected to meet the growing demand with the resumption of these routes.
“We would like to extend our appreciation and thanks to all our corporate, leisure customers and passengers for their continued business support during this most challenging time. We also thank sincerely the travel agents and tour operators for their continuous support. We look forward to meet our new and old customers on board,” read a statement from the airline.
The statement continued that Air Namibia’s mandate remains to be a major contributor towards the attraction and promotion of tourism to Namibia by providing air transport to and from the rest of the world, as well as operating domestic flights.