WINDHOEK – The national airline has canned the London route, as the world economic crisis continues to take a bite on its bottom line. In addition, Air Namibia has reduced the frequency of other flights in the region and increased flights in routes deemed to have potential for growth, all in a bid to stay afloat the global economic tsunami.

Besides the suspension of the direct flights to London’s Gatwick Airport “until further notice”, Air Namibia has reduced the number of weekly flights to Johannesburg, and Victoria Falls, and has rescheduled domestic flights including the flights to Cape Town via the Walvis Bay, Lüderitz and Oranjemund route. Although it is difficult to say how long the difficult period would last, the national airline says it is still “expecting the worst effect of the crisis to hit home”.

Air Namibia’s acting Chief Executive Officer, Theo Namases, says the current global economic crisis and its effect on aviation worldwide, has strained Air Namibia “to re-assess its route network and offering to ensure an equilibrium between supply and demand”. Namases said the London route, while popular with 92 percent of the market share, is not generating sufficient earnings to achieve the required break-even load factor. Air Namibia has just reduced the frequency in the London route from three to two per week, in an effort to minimise losses.

“The current economic slowdown has constrained demand for air travel service on this route even further,” says Namases. In the meantime, passengers to the UK would be flown to and from Windhoek via Frankfurt with connections to London’s Heathrow Airport using commercial agreements with Air Namibia’s interline partners. Air Namibia’s last flight to London is on June 3. The announcement comes against continual decreases in the demand for air travel, with African carriers experiencing the worst decrease at 15.6 percent year-on-year as of March.

To optimise the opportunities, Air Namibia has increased frequency to Luanda, Angola, to four direct flights per week, from the current three flights, while the frequency in Frankfurt route increased to six direct flights per week from the current five weekly flights.
Air Namibia says the two routes – to Luanda and Frankfurt – are its current profitable services, with load factor above 80 percent for Frankfurt and in excess of 85 percent for Luanda. This is in contrast with the load factor of about 60 percent for both the London and Johannesburg routes. The average load factor for airlines, as at March 2009, is at 72 percent.

Acting General Manager for Commercial Division, Mlinga Muyunda, says the Frankfurt route is promising as it is nearing the break-even point, while the Luanda route has begun turning in yields. As from May 27, Air Namibia would reduce the Wednesday two daily flights to Johannesburg to one per day, bringing the weekly flights to 11. Flights to Victoria Falls have been reduced to four flights per week from five flights, during the peak season, April to November. During off-season, December to March, Air Namibia would only have three flights per week to Victoria Falls.

The domestic flights to Ondangwa and Katima Mulilo would now leave in the morning and depart in the afternoon. The coastal routes of Eros to Walvis Bay, Lüderitz, Oranjemund and Cape Town have also been revamped. “The national airline needs to minimise its losses and optimise the opportunities and therefore the following changes,” said Namases.