INCEPTION
The Government of the Republic of Namibia established the Namibia Airports Company Limited (NAC) in terms of the Airports Company’s Act, Act 25 of 1998 as an important pillar of the Namibian Transport sector.
NAC was established with the mandate to develop, manage and operate eight (8) airports in Namibia in accordance with national and international civil aviation regulations and standards. These airports are namely Hosea Kutako International Airport, being Namibia’s flagship Airport, Walvis Bay International Airport, Eros Airport, Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo Airport (formerly known as Ondangwa Airport), Rundu Airport, Katima Mulilo Airport, Keetmanshoop Airport and Luderitz Airport.
Since its official commencement of operation in February 1999, the company has remarkably developed and transformed former military airports into strategic civilian airports and had further contributed to the provision of connectivity and access to markets locally, regionally and internationally and most importantly the positioning of Namibia as a preferred tourist destination and a logistic hub in line with the National Development Plans, Harambee Prosperity Plan and Vision 2030.
PROJECTS
The following are milestones for NAC:
■ Construction of a state of the Art Fire Station at
Walvis Bay International Airport undertaken
in 2009 – this provides confidence in safety and
security of airports that is a very important factor
when considering travelling to a particular
country;
■ Rehabilitation of the main runway and taxiways
at Hosea Kutako International Airport completed
in 2010 at a cost of approximately N$120 Million
to ensure continued aviation safety at Namibia’s
flagship International Airport;
■ Rehabilitation of the main runway at Walvis Bay
International Airport to Code 4F to accommodate
wide-bodied aircraft such as the Airbus A380 to
promote cargo operation at the airport. The
runway rehabilitation was concluded in 2015 at a
cost of N$233 Million;
■ Rescue and Fire Fighting Trucks Acquisition
in 2015 at a value of N$89 Million as part of the
measures to enhance aviation safety at the
airports;
■ New state of the art Terminal facility inaugurated
in August 2015 at Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo airport at a cost of N$84 million;
■ New fire station constructed and commissioned
at Eros Airport in 2016 at a cost of N$11 million;
■ New State of the Terminal facility constructed at
Namibia’s second International Airport being
Walvis Bay International Airport undertaken in
August 2016;
■ Rehabilitation of the main runway at Andimba
Toivo Ya Toivo airport in 2016;
■ Introduction of four foreign carriers: Ethiopian
Airline, Qatar Airways, KLM and Eurowings calling at HKIA in 2016 to improve air connectivity,
promote travel and tourism and improved service offering;
■ Airport licensing annual renewals in line with
national and international civil aviation regulations
and standards for Hosea Kutako International
Airport, Walvis Bay International Airport and
Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo Airport.
■ Ground-breaking of the HKIA Congestion
Alleviation Project undertaken on 16 September
2019 to decongest Namibia’s flagship
international airport – this will again provide
confidence to the traveling community that their
travel will not be interrupted by unorganized
airport operations and that journey could start
and end comfortably. Expected to be completed
by late 2020.
■ Renaming of Ondangwa Airport to Andimba
Toivo Ya Toivo Airport was done on 22 August
2019 by His Excellency Vice President Dr.
Nangolo Mbumba
INCREASE IN BUSINESS
In 2019, NAC`s Eight airports recorded a significant increment of 44.4% in total passenger traffic over the last 10 years (decade) as compared with total passenger traffic recorded in 2009. In the same vein, NAC further recorded an increment of 8.1% in total aircraft movement during the same period. This translates into a total passenger movement of 1 240 736 and aircraft movements of 62 489.
To date, NAC has nine airlines that calls/serves at HKIA being Namibia’s flagship airport namely: Air Namibia, South African Airways, SAA Airlink, British Airways, TAAG Angola, KLM, Lufthansa (Eurowings), Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airways serve HKIA.
INVESTING IN THE NATION
As a responsible corporate citizen, NAC has
supported various programs amongst them:
■ Ten scholarships were awarded in the engineering
discipline: civil, electrical and mechanical and
also to a student who pursued a Master’s Degree
in logistics.
■ Gradual growth in the total number of employees
from 295 in 2009 to 360 in 2020. This represents a 59.29 % growth in creating direct employment
■ Charitable donations in key fields such as Education, Health, Sports and Nation-building
endeavors.