The High Price Of Our Business Class

I AM grateful that you keep us, the public, informed on the financial position of Air Namibia.In this connection, I wish to draw the attention of the authorities to the following: I am a regular user of Air Namibia’s flights to Cape Town.

On virtually every flight, I see that there are no or few people flying business class. The reason for that is that a business-class trip to Cape Town costs N$1300 more than the economy class.The effect of that high price is that the plane flies to Cape Town with one third of the plane empty.If the management would change the costs of the business class tickets and make it, say, only N$500 more than the economy class, many more people will choose to travel by business class.If we assume that only 10 persons per flight would move from economy class to business class, then Air Namibia would earn an extra N$5 000 per flight or N$150 000 per month more on the flight to Cape Town than they are getting now.With that N$150 000 they could already pay the entire staff used for the plane as well as the pilot.As long as a company has a management which is able to see what makes economic sense and what not, it will always generate losses instead of profits.That is precisely the problem with most of the parastatals.The persons in control of these companies are more concerned about their own income than making the company a financial success.I also note on my flights to Cape Town that the planes are often so fully booked that one no longer gets a seat.The reason is that many tourists are taken from Cape Town to Windhoek merely to go through the transit lounge on to a plane that leaves for Europe.In other words, Air Namibia has specially cheap rates that make tourists, who want to visit Cape Town, use Air Namibia, but in effect it means that we are subsidising tourism to South Africa.Sometimes one really has to ask whether people who develop these strategies have the profitability of the company in mind, or merely wish to give the impression that the planes are fully booked.It is a pity to see that the state now squanders another N$86 million on Air Namibia while other services essential for the proper running of the state are in a desolate condition because of a lack of funds.Andreas Vaatz WindhoekThe reason for that is that a business-class trip to Cape Town costs N$1300 more than the economy class.The effect of that high price is that the plane flies to Cape Town with one third of the plane empty.If the management would change the costs of the business class tickets and make it, say, only N$500 more than the economy class, many more people will choose to travel by business class.If we assume that only 10 persons per flight would move from economy class to business class, then Air Namibia would earn an extra N$5 000 per flight or N$150 000 per month more on the flight to Cape Town than they are getting now.With that N$150 000 they could already pay the entire staff used for the plane as well as the pilot.As long as a company has a management which is able to see what makes economic sense and what not, it will always generate losses instead of profits.That is precisely the problem with most of the parastatals.The persons in control of these companies are more concerned about their own income than making the company a financial success.I also note on my flights to Cape Town that the planes are often so fully booked that one no longer gets a seat.The reason is that many tourists are taken from Cape Town to Windhoek merely to go through the transit lounge on to a plane that leaves for Europe.In other words, Air Namibia has specially cheap rates that make tourists, who want to visit Cape Town, use Air Namibia, but in effect it means that we are subsidising tourism to South Africa.Sometimes one really has to ask whether people who develop these strategies have the profitability of the company in mind, or merely wish to give the impression that the planes are fully booked.It is a pity to see that the state now squanders another N$86 million on Air Namibia while other services essential for the proper running of the state are in a desolate condition because of a lack of funds.Andreas Vaatz Windhoek