Flight delays still plague Air Namibia

ROUTINE maintenance on an Air Namibia plane caused flight delays for approximately two to three weeks for passengers travelling between Windhoek and Maun in Botswana.

The delay not only has a negative impact on the national airline’s passengers, but allegedly also affects local businesses and the tourism industry in Botswana.The Namibian was recently contacted by a South African tourist who travelled on Air Namibia’s regional flight to Maun, who slammed the airline for ‘patently severe mismanagement’.’In addition, all of the staff are surly, unfriendly in our interactions, and apparently unhappy in their jobs,’ said the traveller, who asked not to be named.She said their flight to Maun on March 26 was delayed by four hours, adding that half an hour after the flight was delayed for the first time ‘all the Air Namibia staff left the hall and went behind customs where no passengers could contact any of them to find out anything’.Air Namibia head of communications Paul Nakawa said the flight in question was delayed due to scheduled routine maintenance, which left the route to Maun with only two Embraer 135 aircraft.This was Nakawa’s response when he was asked to confirm whether the flight on March 26 was delayed as well as comment on whether Air Namibia’s flights to Maun and other destinations in Botswana have been delayed over the past two to three weeks.The tourist said the delay in the Air Namibia flight caused her party of four to miss a chartered connecting flight which resulted in them having to spend a night at an expensive hotel as they could not get to the paid-for Okavango accommodation.The group was apparently flown through Zimbabwe as they had to detour along with other passengers delayed from Zimbabwe.’We also lost our prepaid accommodation elsewhere. There were two Australians who lost their night’s accommodation as well as their chartered flight,’ the woman said, adding that the group of delayed passengers included a Russian couple and about ten other foreign nationals.But she said during their time in Botswana they were told by other tourists and businesses that the problems they were experiencing were not unusual.’Every single lodge and tour operator we spoke to in Botswana said that for the past two to three weeks delays of flights by Air Namibia are badly affecting tourists, tourism and businesses there (Botswana), and they state forlornly that the Namibian airline is going the same way as Air Botswana which has been doing this for the last few years,’ the woman said.When asked to comment on these claims, Nakawa said that Air Namibia ‘affirms its continuous aim to promote tourism and business in Namibia, the region and Africa at large, through air services with utmost safety and security for its passengers’.’Delays that are caused by scheduled maintenance are acceptable, as they are meant to ensure that we adhere to the industry and manufacturers’ [standards], hence they are not to demoralise our tourists or passengers,’ Nakawa said.Air Namibia’s ‘zero-tolerance policy’ on flight delays and cancellations hit a further snag a few weeks ago when the airline was forced to cancel two flights from Windhoek to Johannesburg following a delay in a flight from Accra, Ghana.Nakawa said the Accra flight’s first officer suffered food poisoning in Ghana and was hospitalised.