Zimbabwean national airline Air Zimbabwe is planning to start flights between Harare and Windhoek to take advantage of a gap in the market left by the collapse of Air Namibia.
Information gathered by The Brief shows that Air Zimbabwe early this year applied to the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) to restore direct flight between the two countries, which ceased almost two years ago when Air Namibia collapsed.
Although insiders at Air Zimbabwe confirmed the development but were tight-lipped on details amid indications the carrier was awaiting to be issued with foreign operators permit, NAC Spokesperson Dan Kamati said Air Zimbabwe’s plans to service the Harare-Windhoek route would be great for business and tourism in Namibia.
“It would be nice to have Air Zimbabwe coming on board as this will increase our connectivity and it’s good for business,” he told The Brief.
The latest development comes as the Lufthansa Group on Thursday announced a three times per week Frankfurt-Mbombela Kruger National Park (KNP) service to commence from November 15, with a short stopover in Windhoek to be operated by Eurowings Discover.
The flights will depart Frankfurt every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evening, arriving in Mbombela KNP the following afternoon. The return flights from Mbombela KNP will depart every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday afternoon, arriving in Frankfurt the following morning.
Lufthansa Group increased its Eurowings Discover service to seven weekly flights between Frankfurt and Windhoek, as a year-round service, with a further increase to ten weekly flights from July to mid-September 2022.
This also included the introduction of the Victoria Falls via Windhoek route.
In the recent past, three major global airlines, Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines, reintroduced flights to Windhoek’s Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA), with additional frequencies.
Ethiopian Airlines has increased its frequencies from four to five per week between Addis Ababa and Windhoek.
In June, Qatar Airways resumed flights to Windhoek as part of the airline’s largest-ever African schedule, operating three weekly non-stop flights to and from Windhoek via Hamad International Airport (HIA) using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which will have 22 seats in Business Class and 232 seats in Economy Class.
According to Hospitality Association of Namibia, the number of international passenger arrivals at Namibian airports increased by 132.2% during the first four months of 2022, compared to the corresponding period of 2021, with the country’s average room occupancy increasing to 28.6% in March 2022, from 20.1% in March 2021.
The Bank of Namibia has projected the hotels and restaurants sector to grow by 6.5% in 2022 as the sector continues to recover from the impact of COVID-19 in 2020, supported by increased international arrivals and higher room occupancies.
