Air Namibia

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Air Namibia

IATA SW	ICAO NMB	Callsign NAMIBIA
Founded		1946 (as South West Air Transport)
Hubs		Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport Windhoek Eros Airport
Frequent flyer program		Reward$
Fleet size		7
Destinations		14
Headquarters		Windhoek
Key people
Website: http://www.airnamibia.com.na

Air Namibia is the national airline of the Republic of Namibia in southern Africa, based in the capital city of Windhoek. It operates scheduled domestic, regional, and international passenger and freight services. Its international hub is Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport with a domestic services hub at the smaller Windhoek Eros Airport.

1 History
2 Services
3 Fleet
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The airline was established in 1946 as South West Air Transport and started operations in 1948. It was later renamed South West Airways in 1959. South West merged with Namib Air in 1978, retaining the Namib Air title. The government of Namibia acquired majority shareholdings in 1982 making it the national airline in 1987. It was renamed again to the current name of Air Namibia in October 1991 after the independence of the country. In the 1990s Boeing 747 aircraft were used for services to Europe. Since 2004 a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 has been used for these services, as well as a newly obtained Airbus A340-300, which entered service late 2005. As of early September 2006, Air Namibia has obtained a second A340-300series jet, as part of the long haul cost cutting and service efficiency program. Air Namibia have shown on Airbus A319/A320 aircraft to replace ageing 737-200's currently serving regional and domestic routes.

[edit] Services

Air Namibia operates the following services (at January 2005):

Domestic scheduled services: Lüderitz, Mpacha, Ondangwa, Oranjemund, Walvis Bay and Windhoek.

International scheduled destinations: Cape Town, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, London Gatwick, Luanda, Maun and Victoria Falls.

Air Namibia has introduced a direct service between Windhoek and London Gatwick with connections from Cape Town and Johannesburg and operated by their McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft as well as their new Airbus A340-300. ^[1]

[edit] Fleet

The Air Namibia fleet consists of the following aircraft (at November 2006)

In order to turn the red ink into black, the company is modernising the part of the fleet used for intercontinental flights. The Boeing 747 that was used for flights between Namibia and Europe from 1999 to 2004 was replaced by 2 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 in September 2004 and later also a first Airbus A340-300. Since August 2006 the MD-11 was temporarily replaced by a Boeing 747 until Air Namibia received its second Airbus A340-300. Now, as of September 06, two A340-300's are serving International routes to Europe, acquired on a long lease from Sabena, of which the aircraft, until recently have been in operation with Lufthansa.

Air Namibia, as part of an airline re-structure have shown interest in the Airbus A319/A320 Jets to serve the increasing demand for Regional routes especially to Johannesburg and Cape Town, where currently 2 ageing leased Boeing 737-200's operate.