South African low-budget airline FlySafair will soon be flying into Windhoek after it received relevant regulatory approvals, in a move that is expected to boost Namibia’s tourism industry.
The company was recently granted permission to operate flights to 11 new destinations within the Southern African region from the Air Services Licensing Council of South Africa (ASLC).
Information gathered by The Brief shows the airline is targeting the Windhoek-Cape Town route, while approval for the Windhoek-Johannesburg route is still pending.
The ASLC has approved FlySafair’s application to operate flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg to Gaborone, Livingstone, Luanda, Lusaka, Maputo, and Victoria Falls.
In addition, the airline has also been approved for frequencies from Johannesburg to Bulawayo, Nairobi and the Seychelles, as well as between Cape Town and Windhoek.
The Namibia Airports Company (NAC) Spokesperson Dan Kamati, however, said the SA airline was still to approach the country’s airports operator.
“They have not approached us yet, but we welcome their interest in coming to Namibia,” he told The Brief on Tuesday.
The plans by the SA carrier comes as Air Zimbabwe is also planning flights between Harare and Windhoek.
Air Zimbabwe intends to take advantage of a gap in the market left by the collapse of Air Namibia, which ceased flights almost two years ago.
The latest developments also come after the Lufthansa Group announced it will be launching a three times per week Frankfurt-Mbombela Kruger National Park (KNP) service, with a short stopover in Windhoek to be operated by Eurowings Discover.
The flights, starting next month, will depart Frankfurt every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evening, arriving in Mbombela KNP the following afternoon. The return flights from Mbombela KNP will depart every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday afternoon, arriving in Frankfurt the following morning.
Lufthansa Group increased its Eurowings Discover service to seven weekly flights between Frankfurt and Windhoek, as a year-round service, with a further increase to ten weekly flights from July to mid-September 2022.
This also included the introduction of the Victoria Falls via Windhoek route.
In the recent past, three major global airlines, Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines, reintroduced flights to Windhoek’s Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA), with additional frequencies.
Ethiopian Airlines has increased its frequencies from four to five per week between Addis Ababa and Windhoek.
In June, Qatar Airways resumed flights to Windhoek as part of the airline’s largest-ever African schedule, operating three weekly non-stop flights to and from Windhoek via Hamad International Airport (HIA) using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which will have 22 seats in Business Class and 232 seats in Economy Class.
Last month South Africa’s Airlink acquired a 40% stake in FlyNamibia, the country’s remaining airline, a development which is also expected to bolster its local and regional positioning, with the possible additional destinations such as Luanda, Maun and Victoria falls.
FlyNamibia currently operates domestic flights from Windhoek’s Eros Airport to Ondangwa, Rundu and Katima Mulilo and regional flights to Cape Town operating six times a week from Hosea Kutako International Airport. -The Brief/Bustech
