Air Namibia

• Windhoek Hosea Kutako
• Windhoek - Eros

Air Namibia is the national airline of Namibia, based in Windhoek and based on the local Hosea Kutako International Airport.

History

The airline was founded in 1947 under the name of South West Air Transport. In 1959, she was with Oryx Aviation under the name Suidwes Lugdiens ( Afrikaans for South West Air Service) together. The small airline Namib Air in 1966 a subsidiary of Suidwes Lugdiens. 1978, the name of the whole group was changed to Namib Air.

1982 acquired the South African government the majority shareholder and declared Namib Air to main airline of the then managed by South Africa Namibia. 1989 took place the first direct flights with the Boeing 737 between Windhoek, Johannesburg and Cape Town. The independence of Namibia in 1990 allowed an expansion of flight operations, since this year Frankfurt is served.

Since 1991, the airline carries its present name Air Namibia.

For the operation of long-haul destinations are leased in 1990 a Boeing 747SP South African Airways. This machine was replaced in 1998 by a Boeing 767-300. 1999 Air Namibia acquired a Boeing 747- 400M Combi; next to passengers as well as cargo could be delivered to load. As this machine proved to be too large and thus too uneconomical, it was sold and replaced by two leased McDonnell Douglas MD -11, which in turn only a few months later by two leased Airbus A340 of BCI -300.

Flights in mid-2009 have been adjusted to London - Gatwick, since Frankfurt is the only European goal of society.

Since mid-December 2009, Air Namibia offers its new, fully automated frequent flyer program called reward $. It is based on earning miles and complies with it, along with a required registration with Air Namibia, the usual frequent flyer programs of the major international airlines. Parallel and until January 2010, Air Namibia offered a manual program, which was based on the collection of boarding passes and allowed discounts or upgrades.

The end of January, 2011, Air Namibia announced that two brand-new Airbus A319 -100 replace the two Boeing 737 on regional routes. These were delivered in January 2013. It is the first aircraft owned by Air Namibia for about 20 years. Mid- March 2012 was also announced that the two Airbus A340 -300 will be replaced by two Airbus A330 -200. In September 2013 one of these aircraft was delivered to the new owner.

Financial situation

Air Namibia is fully owned by the state and can maintain the business only by cash injections by the Namibian government. The government justifies the payments to loss-making airline working with the importance of Air Namibia for the important tourism sector, there to minimize high dependency on foreign airlines.

In 2007, the airline was supported with $ 538.6 million N which, amongst other things, a bank overdraft was replaced. In the financial year 2009/2010 there are expected to be only about 100 million N $ be. On October 7, 2009 Air Namibia published two years later than the Annual Report 2007. Follows from this that Air Namibia has accumulated a debt of more than 100 million N $ in the financial year 2006/2007. In 2006, the net loss of 221 ​​million was still N $. Due to the financial situation, no dividends were paid. Furthermore, it appears from the annual report that Air Namibia had amassed 2007 debt of more than 3 billion Namibian dollars to March. However, the revenue increased in fiscal 2007 by approximately 32 percent to 854 million Namibian dollars. Operating expenses increased by eleven percent, so that the operating loss of 325.1 million has dropped to 233.4 million Namibian dollars.

On 2 December 2010 it was announced that Air Namibia has emergency aid amounting to 176 million N $ and bank guarantees in the amount of N used $ 378 million if the flight operations can be assured.

In 2011, the government subsidy to Air Namibia will be about N $ 80 million. 2008/2009 the turnover was already at N $ 1.3 billion, fell in 2009 /10 amounted to N $ 1.1 billion and 2010/11 estimated N is $ 1.2 billion.

End of July 2011 approved to finance a new turnaround plan further 1.2 billion Namibian dollars for three years, the Namibian Parliament.

For the financial year 2012/2013 500 000 000 N $ are scheduled as government support. From the financial year 2015/2016, the airline will operate profitably.

In February 2013 it was announced by press articles that the financial distress of Air Namibia apparently has other effects, not only the cancellation of numerous scheduled flights to Frankfurt am Main. Also to be deleted for reasons of cost, the Accra route. According to unconfirmed reports, the airline is the payment of the employer's contribution to the pension fund of their employees with three months in arrears.

Beginning of March 2013 gave the Namibian government announced that Air Namibia / 15 financial support in the two financial years 2013/14 and 2014 with nearly 2 billion Namibia dollars.

Destinations

In addition to domestic destinations like Mpacha, Ondangwa, Oranjemund and Walvis Bay Air Namibia operated from Windhoek also destinations in the region such as Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa and also connections to Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Ghana and Zimbabwe.

The route to Frankfurt am Main as currently only connection to Europe is served several times a week.

About an agreement with Lufthansa also London - Heathrow and five other UK airports are served by adapted transfer times since 18 February 2014.

Fleet

As of November2013, the fleet of Air Namibia consists of ten aircraft with an average age of 4 years:

• 4 Airbus A319 -100
• 2 Airbus A330 -200
• 4 Embraer ERJ 135

In the past, Air Namibia operation, inter alia, several Boeing 737 and 747 and McDonnell Douglas MD -11 and Airbus A340 -300.

Awards

Air Namibia received in 2013 for the umpteenth time after 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 in Johannesburg the ACSA Feather Award from the South African airport operator Airports Company South Africa ( ACSA ) as to customer surveys " Regional Best Airline ".