South African low-cost airline, FlySafair is set to launch scheduled flights to Windhoek in addition to Harare and Zanzibar after receiving permission from the International Air Services Council.
The schedules for the Windhoek and Harare routes are expected to be available by the third quarter of this year, while the schedule for the Zanzibar route is likely to be available by the second quarter of this year due to an existing charter arrangement.
Additionally, FlySafair has received permission to offer five additional flights to Mauritius, potentially leading to daily flights to the island.
The airline plans to add three aircraft to its fleet before the end of March to be used on the new routes. FlySafair has become the dominant player in South Africa’s domestic market, with a market share of 60%.
Before the pandemic, the airline had approximately 25% of seat capacity.
FlySafair’s plans come as Air Zimbabwe is also planning flights between Harare and Windhoek to take advantage of the gap in the market left by the collapse of Air Namibia, which ceased flights almost two years ago.
The Lufthansa Group has also recently launched a three times per week Frankfurt-Mbombela Kruger National Park service with a short stopover in Windhoek to be operated by Eurowings Discover.
The flights depart Frankfurt every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evening, arriving in Mbombela the following afternoon. The return flights from Mbombela will depart every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday afternoon, arriving in Frankfurt the following morning.
Lufthansa Group has increased its Eurowings Discover service to seven weekly flights between Frankfurt and Windhoek, 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.
