Illness grounds Air Namibia pilots

Air Namibia is experiencing a shortage of pilots, due to a sudden and unexpected illness, and has now been forced to wet lease an Airbus A340-500 aircraft from Portuguese charter airline Hi Fly.According to Air Namibia spokesperson Paul Nakawa, the Airbus A340-500 aircraft will replace an Airbus A330-200, which services the Windhoek to Frankfurt route, effective as from 13 May. Nakawa said that there are not enough pilots to operate this route, due to the sudden and unexpected illness of five of their senior captains.A wet lease arrangement is where a company leases their aircraft and flight crew to another airline.The temporary use of the Hi Fly aircraft is expected to be for a period of ten days.Nakawa told Namibian Sun that the cost of wet leasing the aircraft cannot be divulged at this stage, due to the agreement entered into with the Portuguese company. According to aviation experts, the leasing market is highly competitive and Hi Fly may not want its competitors to know what it charged Air Namibia.Nakawa said in order to minimise flight disruptions, Air Namibia management opted to wet lease an aircraft to complement the other A330-200 that services Windhoek/Frankfurt, in order to ensure continued service delivery to their flying public.The wet leased A340-500 comes with a two class cabin configuration of 36 business class seats, offering full flatbeds and a seat pitch of 78 inches, as well as 201 economy class seats, offering a seat pitch of 33 inches.“We would like to use this opportunity to assure our stakeholders that Air Namibia is committed to ensuring that our safety standards are upheld at all times, and we are committed to maintain our flight schedules as far as possible, hence we have decided on this short-term lease arrangement, to prevent schedule disruptions,” said Nakawa.Meanwhile, Fly Blue Crane successfully launched its first regional flights between Cape Town and Windhoek on Friday, after the airline recently received approval from South African and Namibian authorities to commence their services.The Griquas rugby team that played against the Welwitschias this weekend was also on board the first flight to Windhoek. Fly Blue Crane took to the skies from its Johannesburg hub in September 2015, and plans to fly to more Southern African destinations in future, as it grows. It will announce exact flight schedules between Cape Town and Windhoek soon.Fly Blue Crane Chief Commercial Officer Theunis Potgieter said the launch service between the two cities had gone well, with the airline getting very positive feedback from customers.“The inaugural return flights between the two cities today surpassed our expectations, amid very good feedback from the market,” he said.According to him the airline plans to deliver to their customers on this route, with consistent service excellence, advanced online technologies that make the booking and travel process fuss-free and highly competitive fares. “The time was right for us to introduce this route, in the light of the growing tourism and business ties between the two countries, as well as the fact that many people travelling to the region want to combine South Africa and Namibia,” he said. Potgieter added that they aim in the coming years to make air travel an altogether better, convenient and more rewarding experience in the entire Southern Africa sub-region.The airline operates modern and fuel-efficient 50-seater Embraer Regional Jet 145 (ERJ) aircraft, in a single class configuration. It uses the International Air Transport Association (IATA) code 7B.ELLANIE SMIT

Illness grounds Air Namibia pilots

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-19

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Illness grounds Air Namibia pilots

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-19

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