Air Namibia to acquire two Airbus A330-200

AIR Namibia says the delivery of the first of its two Airbus A330-200 aircraft is scheduled for later this month.

Air Namibia said in a statement issued yesterday that the second A330-200 is expected to be part of the national air carrier’s fleet in November. The two aircraft are being leased from United States company, Intrepid Aviation for a 12-year period, Air Namibia said. The A330s will be used primarily on Air Namibia’s long haul route, between Windhoek and Frankfurt.

The statement said the Airbus A330-200 aircraft is an economically efficient aircraft that has become popular with airlines around the world.

“It has been deemed ideal for Air Namibia as the airline continues to explore ways of reducing operation costs. It has been estimated that with the introduction of the two A330-200 aircraft, Air Namibia will save up to N$510 million over 60 months in operating costs alone (N$8,5 million per month),” the airline said.

“The fleet upgrade ties in with our network expansion and frequency increase plans, using aircraft which have a combination of low operating costs, high efficiency, flexibility, customer appeal and optimized performance,” said Air Namibia Head of Corporate Communications Paulus Homateni Nakawa.

The A330s will come in a configuration of 244 seats, of which 30 are in business class and 214 in the economy class. Business Class seats will be full flat beds, while all seats in the aircraft including economy class will have “video/audio on demand” with individual monitors for each passenger.

Air Namibia’s on-board products will also improve significantly with the introduction of the Airbus A330-200 planes, and will contribute to meeting customer needs more optimally.

Air Namibia currently uses two Airbus A340-300 aircraft on the Windhoek-Frankfurt route, whose lease agreement expires in October. The new A330-200 aircraft have been built and configured in line with Air Namibia requirements and standards.

“From the range of aircraft types available, the A330-200 was found to be the most suited for our operations and conditions, given lower operating costs, high dispatch reliability, flexibility and appeal,” said Air Namibia General Manager for Commercial Services, Xavier Masule.

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