AIR Namibia recently opened new routes to west Africa to strengthen the company’s balance sheet as part of its financial turn around strategy. 

The airline’s Communications Manager, Hellena Kapiya said the routes to west Africa were implemented as a cost cutting measure for the airline which used to depend on connection flights from Johannesburg for its west African passengers.
“Africa needs to connect within itself at reasonable prices and for airlines to remain sustainable. These prices need to cover the cost of operating a scheduled flight too. Imagine flying from Windhoek to Casablanca through a connection flight in Europe,” said Kapiya.
However, Kapiya could not, explain whether their new flights to Ghana will be sustainable in terms of revenue considering the limited number of travellers between the two countries.
She could only describe the cost of the Ghana route as reasonable without shedding more light on the  revenue or expenditure accruable to the company.
Kapiya added that Air Namibia initially operated five flights with traffic rights to uplift passengers, baggage, cargo and air mail between Johannesburg and Accra through  the Fifth Freedom Traffic Rights granted by the South African Government. 
She also added that Air Namibia is now the only airline flying between Accra  and Johannesburg as most of their competitors depend on connection routes through other cities.
The new routes come at a time when the national airliner has been experiencing  financial difficulties. 
Kapiya also said the company is also researching thoroughly on sustainable opportunities that can be tapped into by the national airliner in their quest to improve their financial status.
“We have done our due diligence by choosing potentially sustainable routes,” she said.
The national airliner is among the least performing parastatals and the chairperson of the State Enterprises Governance Council, Inge Murangi, has called for a performance based management evaluation system in State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to improve efficiency.