EDITORIAL: Nekundi must tread carefully on airfare war

Transport minister Veikko Nekundi’s ultimatum to airlines – cut ticket prices within six months or face regulatory intervention – may sound bold, even populist. But beneath the surface, it raises uncomfortable questions about how power is being exercised and on what basis.

At face value, the move appears noble. Protecting Namibians from high fares and perceived corporate greed. But what exactly is the benchmark being used to declare that tickets are too expensive?

There is a growing tendency to compare current fares charged by FlyNamibia with those once offered by Air Namibia, before it nosedived into liquidation.

But Air Namibia was a heavily subsidised entity which, in 2020 alone, received nearly N$984 million in government support. That kind of financial cushioning allowed it to offer artificially low fares – a model that was never sustainable in any case.

If private airlines are now expected to replicate that charity, they are being set up for failure.

Air Namibia collapsed because it was dragged down by persistent political interference. Loss-making routes to destinations like Frankfurt and Ghana were maintained not because they made business sense, but because they satisfied political directives.

There is a real danger that history is about to repeat itself – this time with private operators. Strong-arming airlines into lowering prices without addressing the underlying cost structures of aviation – fuel, maintenance, aircraft leasing, and a small market – is not reform. It is recklessness dressed up as intervention.

When government culled its own airline, it was FlyNamibia that stepped in to keep the country connected. That intervention by the private sector ensured that Namibians could still travel domestically without total collapse of air connectivity.

Now, instead of enabling and supporting that fragile ecosystem, government appears poised to bully it into submission.