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AirNamibia Airbus A319

Windhoek – Lagos – Accra Route Announcement

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WINDHOEK – LAGOS – ACCRA ROUTE ANNOUNCEMENT

Air Namibia is pleased to announce that in line with our strategic plan we will add Lagos and Accra to our route network effective 25 March 2018. This fits in with growing the business and increasing our footprint on the African Continent.

AirNamibia Airbus A319The routing for the two new destinations will be Windhoek-Lagos-Accra, and the return will be Accra-Lagos-Windhoek four times per week using the Airbus A319-100 aircraft. Apart from providing direct connection from Namibia to West Africa, the operation will further transport passengers and cargo on the Lagos-Accra-Lagos route, using the fifth freedom traffic rights granted by the Ghanaian and Nigerian Governments, as contained in the existing Bilateral Air Service Agreements.

Days of operation departing from Windhoek will be Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The operating schedule and flight timings allow smooth and convenient connections inbound and outbound to our regional flights, connecting West Africa via Windhoek to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Luanda, Harare, Lusaka, Vic Falls, Gaborone Walvis Bay and Durban.

“This much needed service will give our passengers a better alternative travel option, and will reduce travel times between Namibia and West Africa by more than 60%. We are happy to introduce our Award Winning Service in this market and we are already receiving positive feedback on the launch of this new route. The operation fits within our existing capacity in terms of aircraft and crew, thereby improving the utilization rates of these resources while increasing revenue catchment opportunities. Especially as it means we are entering Africa’s largest regional air travel market,” said Advocate Mandi Samson, Air Namibia Acting Managing Director

Xavier Masule, General Manager for Commercial Services at Air Namibia said; “We are grateful to the Namibian, Ghanaian and Nigerian Governments for the commitment to promote easy access and the much needed improved levels of mobility on the continent, which will help promote intra-Africa trade and tourism flows.”

More domestic flights from September!

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Air Namibia is pleased to announce that effective 4 September 2016,
we will be increasing flight frequencies and capacity on some of our domestic routes.

Routes on which flight frequency and capacity increases will be offered are the following;   ·

Ondangwa: We will launch an additional flight frequency on the Eros – Ondangwa route on Mondays, from the current two flights per day to three flight per day. We will also launch an additional flight frequency on Saturdays, from the current single flight per day to two flights.   ·

Rundu/Katima Mulilo: Flights to Rundu and Katima Mulilo will be separated, meaning that flights to Rundu will no longer go via Katima Mulilo, and flights to Katima Mulilo will no longer go via Rundu.

We will introduce direct and non-stop flights between Eros and Rundu, three times per week to be operated on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.   The new service of direct and non-stop flights between Eros and Katima Mulilo will remain on 4 flights per week, to be operated on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

In addition to the frequency and capacity increases, we are happy to also announce that we have revised our fares and ticket prices on domestic routes downwards, by an aggregate of 20%. This reduction in fares will ensure that all fares payable on domestic routes, including taxes, will be well below N$ 3,990.00 return.

“The decision taken to increase flight frequencies and capacity on domestic routes is in line with our strategic objective of making air travel affordable, and this is just the beginning of it all”, says Paul Nakawa, Corporate Communications Manager of Air Namibia.
“As opportunities for fixed cost reduction from increased aircraft utilization are realized, the more the benefit in cost reduction will be passed onto the end user, our esteemed flying public, Nakawa said.

We are grateful to Namibia Airports Company, for the decision to allow us to increase flights into Eros Airport, which has made it possible for us to increase frequencies on specified routes, which ultimately reduces our fixed costs per seat, and it is our wish that this level of cooperation and alignment will continue going forward, which will help us create a situation whereby every Namibia will afford to fly, removing pressure from our roads, added Xavier Masule General Manager for Commercial Services at Air Namibia

Air Namibia Airbus

AirNamibia voted second best Regional Airline in Africa!

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Air Namibia voted best regional AirlineWindhoek, Tuesday 19 July 2016;

We feel honoured and truly delighted to have been selected in the number 2 spot in the category of Best Regional Airline in Africa. This reaffirms the trust conveyed by our valuable clients and other key stakeholder who are at the heart of everything we do at Air Namibia, and confirms our undeterred commitment to customer satisfaction,” “We will continue to listen to our customers and respond in such a way that we meet and exceed their needs, with our value proposition underpinned by the Namibian Hospitality as a baseline.

We are proud that our efforts are being recognized by the public as well as trade and travel professionals. This recognition is dedicated to the entire Air Namibia team and Board members for their support during this challenging time of our existence, and will go a long way in encouraging all of us to work even harder to make all our key stakeholders proud.

Issued by: Corporate Communications Office

Contact Person: Paul Homateni Nakawa
Manager: Corporate Communications

Tel: +264 61 299 6216 Fax: +264 61 299 6178

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About Air Namibia (Pty) Limited:

Air Namibia, Namibia’s national airline, operates scheduled flights and carries cargo (freights) on domestic, regional and intercontinental flights. The airline was founded in 1947 as South West Air Transport, which later changed to South West Airways. In 1992, the airline’s name was changed to Air Namibia. The mandate of Air Namibia is to be a major contributor towards the attraction and promotion of tourism to Namibia by providing air transport services between Namibia and other countries, as well as by operating flights within the boundaries of Namibia. The airline is positioned as a niche carrier serving domestic points within Namibia, the immediate regional markets of South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Angola. Points beyond (Asia, USA, Middle East and Europe) are serviced in conjunction with partner airlines via our gateways: Frankfurt, Johannesburg and Lusaka.

Air Namibia Airbus

Air Namibia Temporally Wet Leases A340-500 for WHK-FRA

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MEDIA RELEASE

AIR NAMIBIA TEMPORALLY WET LEASES AN A340-500 FOR WINDHOEK/FRANKFURT FLIGHTS

Windhoek, Thursday 12 May 2016; This serves to inform our clients and all other key stakeholders that Air Namibia will introduce a temporary change of aircraft to replace one of our

Airbus A330-200 which service the Windhoek – Frankfurt route effective 13 May 2016, with a wet leased Airbus A340-500 aircraft. The temporary use of the HiFly aircraft is expected to be for a period of ten (10) days. This A340-500 which will be leased from HiFly (5K) comes in a two class cabin configuration of 36 Business Class seats offering full flat beds and a seat pitch of 78 inches, as well as 201 Economy Class seats offering a seat pitch of 33 inches.

In order to minimise flight disruptions, Air Namibia management opted to wet lease an aircraft to complement the other A330-200 that services the Windhoek/Frankfurt, in order to ensure continued service delivery to our flying publics. There are not enough pilots to operate this route due to sudden and unexpected illness of five of our senior captains.

“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 are far as possible hence having decided to on this short term lease arrangement to prevent schedule disruptions”, commented Paul Nakawa, Manager for Corporate Communications at Air Namibia.

Notes to Editors

Wet lease operation is an arrangement whereby companies lease their airplane/aircraft with flight crew to another airline.

Issued by the Corporate Communications Office

Contact Person: Paul Homateni Nakawa
Manager: Corporate Communications

Air Namibia Scooped Double Feather Award!

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Air Namibia Scooped Double Feather Award!

Thursday 04ACSA-AWARDth December 2014; Air Namibia is pleased to announce that it has won for the first time double ACSA OR Tambo and Cape Town Feather Awards for “Best Regional Airline” in service excellence.

The awards are based on passengers’ feedback and provides ACSA with an opportunity to recognize top performing airlines for outstanding customer service rendered during the year with the aim of entrenching a culture of great customer service. The feather awards is about recognizing those entities that go extra mile to ensure that the passenger experience is pleasurable and memorable. The awards are researched using three independent local organizations and verified by two international organizations namely the Airports Council International (ACI) and the Transport Research Laboratorly (TRL) in the UK. Levels of service in each category are thoroughly assessed and a comprehensive report is compiled.

Acting Managing Director & COO Rene Gsponer said, “Air Namibia is above all a customer focused airline and superior service delivery is what we are striving to maintan. These award are a testimony of the confidence by our customers and passengers appeal, and they serve as an encouragement to us to do more in order to meet clients’ high expecations. This is another achievement as it is our customers themselves who recognized that we are the best airline in the region, the double awards are well deserved and well done to Air Namibia staff for hardwork and great team work”.

This is the tenth time that Air Namibia won Feather Awards but it is for the first time Air Namibia won double awards at these two airports simulataneously. Air Namibia’s pilots recently won the service excellence award from the Namibia Business Hall of Fame in collaboration with the NCCI. Therefore, Air Namibia takes this opportunity to thank all its customers and passengers for their continuous support.

 

 

Air Namibia Airbus 330-200

AIR NAMIBIA CONTINUE WITH NORMAL OPERATIONAL WITH THE EXTENSION OF AOC

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UPDATES ON THE STATUS OF AIR NAMIBIA’S AIR OPERATOR CERTIFICATE (AOC)

Wednesday 18 June 2014:

Air Namibia informs the travel trade, esteemed clients, passengers and other stakeholders that its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) has been extended.

“The AOC was extended late Monday afternoon, and our business operations continue as normal. I further wish to assure our stakeholders that we are doing everything possible to attend to pending matters with the Directorate of Civil Aviation, which we have agreed to during this extension period, and we commend the DCA for the cordial work relationship between our institutions”, commented Mr Rene Gsponer the Acting Managing Director of Air Namibia.

Air Namibia takes this opportunity to thank all its customers and passengers for their continuous support.

 

Air Namibia - Sneak Peak - Airbus 330-200 Economy Class

Sneak-Peak of our new Airbus 330-200 Interior

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Air Namibia is proud to announce the arrival of two new Airbus 330-200 aircrafts in the coming month. Here is a quick sneak-peak of the new interior of our brand-new planes:

 

Air Namibia - Sneak Peak - Airbus 330-200 Business Class Air Namibia - Sneak Peak - Airbus 330-200 Economy Class Air Namibia - Sneak Peak - Airbus 330-200 Air Namibia - Sneak Peak - Airbus 330-200 Economy Class Air Namibia - Sneak Peak - Airbus 330-200 Economy Class

Here is what our new Business Class will look like:

Air Namibia Airbus 330-200 Business Class Air Namibia Airbus 330-200 Business Class

Airbus-A330-200

Air Namibia Upgrades its long-haul product.

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Windhoek, 18 September: Air Namibia is proud to inform its clients that the much anticipated entry of the two brand new Airbus A330-200 aircraft into our fleet later this year will be major upgrade of our long haul inflight product.

The A330-200 offers a much improved inflight product compared to the current Airbus A340 which will leave Air Namibia’s fleet at end of 2013.

The A330-200 offers an improved overall appearance of the cabin interior, with a more spacious impression of the cabin, more headroom and shoulder clearance for window seats, as well as more headroom underneath the bins, with an improved illumination. An enhanced and spacious cabin is designed around the passenger’s well-being, while the low noise and emissions levels make flying greener and quieter.

New Airbus A330-200

“Across the entire cabin, both in business and in economy class, the A330-200 offers individual personal video screens for each seat, with ‘video on demand’. The video and audio on-demand concept means that the user has ability to pause, rewind, fast forward, or skip to any point in the movie,” says Paulus Homateni Nakawa Air Namibia Head of Corporate Communications.

In short, while on board, our passengers will be able to work, eat, play, relax and sleep.

Business Class
The A330 aircraft will come with 30 business class seats, and no “premium economy” class section. The soon to be phased out A340 offers recliner seats in business class, while the A330 offers full flat beds at 180 degrees and completely horizontal when reclined. Recliner seats do not offer the significant recline of the flat bed seats. The flat bed seats always receive high accolades for being comfortable both as seats and beds.

The A330 business class seats are Contour Aura Lite, which seats are designed and engineered to perform for the airline and passenger through its modular design. The Unique S-shaped outer arms yield significant space (11% more along its entire length from seat to bed) allowing for a larger centre console that houses a fully adjustable single-slab table. This seat offers a stylish, flexible approach to premium aircraft seating that provides exceptional space and facilities.

The business class seat on our A330 comes with the following features;

• IFE screen in back of seat in front, with both video and audio on demand
• Rising armrests that form individual privacy screens, when a passenger needs privacy
• Water bottle and general stowage
• Shoe stowage and literature pocket
• PC power, headphone port
• In-seat reading light (Fully adjustable to direct the light where you need it)

On the A340 the reading light is located in the passenger service unit, underneath the overhead stowage compartment, whereas on the A330 the reading light is located centre console.

Economy Class
The A330-200 comes with 214 economy class seats compared to 234 on the A340. The seat pitch is an average 31 inches, which is standard in the region and offers sufficient legroom (same as in A340). With 8 abreast in the economy class, the 18 inch seat width, the A330 offers the preferred comfort standard.

The A340 video screens are retractable from the center passenger service unit and against the bulkhead, it has no individual screens.

Cargo
The A330 comes with temperature control in the cargo compartments, which enables Air Namibia to carry different types of cargo including frozen products like fish. Other products we are able to transport as cargo include flowers, live animals, fruit, appliances, vehicles, to mention a few.
Namibia exports meat and fish products, as well as other perishable goods like flowers, to the European market.

Currently, Air Namibia’s average cargo load on the Windhoek-Frankfurt route is 10 tonnes, the A330 offers a 14-tonne cargo capacity as opposed to the 16 tonnes of the A340 which is way above the current average cargo load.

Air Namibia is due to take delivery of the first of the two brand new Airbus A330-200 aircraft next week. The second A330-200 is expected to enter the national air carrier’s fleet in November 2013. The two aircraft are being leased from Intrepid Aviation for a period of 12 years.

“The A330 is the market leader with over 1,000 A330s delivered to over 100 operators worldwide. This is a popular aircraft used by a wide number of airlines, from the South to the North, east to the West, Large and Small airlines. Today, there is an Airbus A330 aircraft taking off or landing every 50 seconds,” Nakawa says.