Air Namibia encourages locals to fly
Air Namibia says locals should look more to flying domestically and said that it has taken measures to ensure airfares charged are at a bare minimum.
The airline's spokesperson Paul Nakawa said it was part of an initiative driven by the airline to bring fares to within affordable levels to ensure that Namibians can fly domestically.
“Two years ago, the executive committee of Air Namibia took a decision to lower the domestic fares to N$3 999, and set that as the maximum fare on the domestic routes. This is part of our efforts to remove pressure from the roads and encourage the public to fly, also considering the ongoing road carnage,” said Nakawa.
Admittedly, he conceded that the fares its passengers were paying were above that margin, but said that this was because of increases in fuel prices and taxes to fly.
“We are fully aware that of late, our passengers have been paying tickets above that margin, but this is due to the increase in fuel, as well as some taxes,” said Nakawa.
“The executive committee is in discussions to review and will once again be announcing the new fare in this regard in due course. We are excited to say, the culture of flying has set in as so many passengers are making use of our domestic services,” Nakawa said.
The desire to see more Namibians fly also resulted in the local air carrier choosing to buy the Embraer ERJ 135 aircraft that it currently leases from local company Westair.
“In 2017 we revisited our agreement with our lessor with regard to the four Embraer ERJ 135 aircraft we have in our fleet. Instead of continuing leasing them, we are now busy paying them off to own them and be part of our balance sheet. So far we use some of the Embraer jets on the regional routes as well as the four Airbus A319s, which were acquired to service the regional routes,” said Nakawa.
He said Air Namibia was also interested in flying to more destinations locally.
“As much as we want to do that, we operate in a highly regulated environment. We can only fly to airports that are approved and are managed by the Namibia Airports Company. We are satisfied that we are operating to most if not all the NAC's managed airports in Namibia,” Nakawa said.
OGONE TLHAGE
The airline's spokesperson Paul Nakawa said it was part of an initiative driven by the airline to bring fares to within affordable levels to ensure that Namibians can fly domestically.
“Two years ago, the executive committee of Air Namibia took a decision to lower the domestic fares to N$3 999, and set that as the maximum fare on the domestic routes. This is part of our efforts to remove pressure from the roads and encourage the public to fly, also considering the ongoing road carnage,” said Nakawa.
Admittedly, he conceded that the fares its passengers were paying were above that margin, but said that this was because of increases in fuel prices and taxes to fly.
“We are fully aware that of late, our passengers have been paying tickets above that margin, but this is due to the increase in fuel, as well as some taxes,” said Nakawa.
“The executive committee is in discussions to review and will once again be announcing the new fare in this regard in due course. We are excited to say, the culture of flying has set in as so many passengers are making use of our domestic services,” Nakawa said.
The desire to see more Namibians fly also resulted in the local air carrier choosing to buy the Embraer ERJ 135 aircraft that it currently leases from local company Westair.
“In 2017 we revisited our agreement with our lessor with regard to the four Embraer ERJ 135 aircraft we have in our fleet. Instead of continuing leasing them, we are now busy paying them off to own them and be part of our balance sheet. So far we use some of the Embraer jets on the regional routes as well as the four Airbus A319s, which were acquired to service the regional routes,” said Nakawa.
He said Air Namibia was also interested in flying to more destinations locally.
“As much as we want to do that, we operate in a highly regulated environment. We can only fly to airports that are approved and are managed by the Namibia Airports Company. We are satisfied that we are operating to most if not all the NAC's managed airports in Namibia,” Nakawa said.
OGONE TLHAGE
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