AIR Namibia will not fly to regional and international destinations just yet.
This is after the airline extended the suspension of regional and international flights, which were supposed to resume on Friday after a six-month-long grounding.
The extension will last until 31 October.
The airline’s corporate communications officer, Twaku Kayofa, told that the regional and international flights are on hold because borders to certain destinations remain closed or only opened on 1 October.
“Air Namibia operates a network, which requires multiple destinations in order to feed the network. South African borders opened today. We also fly to Lusaka, Gaborone, Harare and many others and some of those countries’ borders are still closed,” said Kayofa.
He added that most of the passengers to the regional destinations come from the Frankfurt international route, which is currently not operating. These are mostly tourists that are connecting to holiday destinations such as Victoria Falls.
“If you don’t have that feeder, considering that Namibia has a very small population, you might start flying but you will only be flying two or three people,” said Kayofa.
Flight SW163/4 to Walvis Bay, which serves as a link between Namibia and South Africa, has also been suspended until 20 October.
Air Namibia resumed domestic flights on 20 September after the state of emergency was lifted.
Kayofa further explained that the airline’s operations have been negatively affected as there has been a decrease in travel demand due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“Furthermore, the continued suspension of our regional and international flights has a detrimental effect on the airline’s already difficult cash flow position. An anouncement of the resumption of our regional and international flights will be made once confirmed,” he said.
