Suspended West African Air Route Gets New Life Lease

Air Namibia on Tuesday announced that it will add Lagos and Accra to its route network, effective from 25 March 2018.

A media release by Air Namibia's manager for corporate communications, Paul Nakawa, said the expansion is to grow the business and increase the airline's footprint on the African continent.

He explained that the route for the two destinations will be Windhoek-Lagos-Accra, while the return will be Accra-Lagos-Windhoek four times per week, using the Airbus A319-100 aircraft.

The departing schedules from Windhoek will be Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

"This much-needed service will give our passengers a better travel option, and it will reduce travel times between Namibia and West Africa by more than 60 per cent," said Air Namibia's acting managing director Mandi Samson in the same statement.

The operation will also allow for the transportation of 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.

The fifth traffic rights are the rights for an airline to fly between two foreign countries while the flight originates or ends in one's own country.

In 2009, Air Namibia operated the flight connecting Windhoek to Accra. However, the service was suspended in 2013 due to its low financial performances.

The statement further emphasises that the new intervention combines Accra with Lagos, and allows traffic rights for passengers and cargo to travel between the two countries, which differs from the previous operations. - Nampa

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