Paragon Investment Holdings took over ground handling operations at Hosea Kutako International Airport on Saturday morning.
Desmond Amunyela, the company’s business development executive director, has confirmed the transition.
“We are in operation. Everything is working smoothly, especially in the luggage collection department. There have been no delays,” he said on Saturday.
Amunyela said Paragon has received access codes from airlines to process passenger data on their computers.
EuroWings and Qatar Airways redirected flights from Frankfurt and Doha to Hosea Kutako International Airport to Johannesburg on Saturday morning.
Sources at the airport suggested this decision was made due to an alleged lack of advance notification by the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) regarding operational changes.
Philipp Joeinig, the chief executive of Menzies Aviation Group, issued a statement on Thursday in which he reiterated the company’s commitment to providing ground handling services at the airport until it is required by law to vacate.
Joeinig indicated that – despite a High Court order directing the eviction of Menzies from the airport at the end of June last year, and a Supreme Court judgement in which an appeal against that court order was dismissed in June this year – Menzies’ view is that it must still be given 12 months’ notice to vacate the airport.
“Menzies assures all concerned that it will always comply with the law, and if any new court order is obtained by the NAC, or by any other interested party, that Menzies should vacate the HKIA at an earlier date, Menzies will abide by the law when such an order is enforceable,” he stated.
“As things now stand, however, no such court order exists,” Joeinig claimed.
Menzies ceased its operations at the airport on Friday after being evicted by the deputy sheriff of the High Court.
The deputy sheriff was also directed to remove all equipment belonging to Menzies from the airport.
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