Air Namibia to fly anywhere

Air Namibia has been granted a licence enabling the airliner to fly anywhere in the world.

The new Air Service Licence (ASL) was issued by the Transport Commission of Namibia last week.

The commission amended Air Namibia Licence No.00014, which was issued on 5 April 1993 in terms of the Air Service Act No 51, to allow the airline to operate globally.

Under the old licence, Air Namibia was allowed to operate in Africa and Europe only.

The move is aligned with the strategic expansion of the airline in feeding the world with passengers, cargo and related air transport services.

“Air Namibia applied for alteration in order to fulfil its mandate as per the certificate of essential service issued by the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development. Our airline is certified to operate charter flights to transport passengers, evacuation and cargo.

“To do this, we needed a licence for non-scheduled flights that we charter on an ad hoc basis – especially now that we are catering for Covid-19-related repatriations, as well as to transport necessary consignments to and from Namibia,” said the airline’s spokesperson, Paul Nakawa.

The airline suspended all its flights on 18 March, which affected their already strained operations.

With the expansion of the Hosea Kutako International Airport in mind, the national airline is geared to strengthen and speed up revenue generation for shareholders.

“From a commercial perspective, it can generate revenue in this financially strained situation, which can help us fulfil our financial obligations. We should also comment on the efficiency of the Transport Commission,” Nakawa said.

has seen documents showing the airline has approached the World Health Organisation to be considered for the distribution of Covid-19 materials worldwide – especially to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

Nakawa said this does not mean the airline is considering new routes.

“It’s premature to determine this as the whole world is under lockdown. As and when the aviation sector returns to normalcy, and in line with our strategic plan, we will make appropriate decisions on the routes network, informed by the demand at the time,” he said.

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