Namibia Flyafrica to commence flights in September

Flyafrica group chief executive Adrian Hamilton-Manns has said the Namibian subsidiary will initially operate services from Windhoek to Johannesburg three times a week before increasing this to a daily service.

The carrier had initially planned to start flights in March, but this was delayed.

Hamilton-Manns said the Windhoek-based carrier is also planning to add Cape Town as a destination. The airline will initially have one Boeing 737, but the intention is to grow this to three in the next nine to 12 months.

Flyafrica is also looking at starting a separate new carrier in Namibia to operate domestic flights,: "What we'll be doing in Namibia is a completely new project to operate low-cost flights,” said Hamilton-Manns. “That company would be jointly managed with Namibia-based Bay Area Aviation and operate under a completely different name and with different planes from Namibia Flyafrica.”

Flyafrica and Bay Area Aviation are currently evaluating which aircraft to acquire for the planned start-up and that these will be in the 50-seater market.

Hamilton-Manns added: “Flyafrica is currently involved in six projects, including setting up three new airlines: one in southern Africa, to launch on 10 October; a second in Central Africa to follow in November; and the third in West Africa, scheduled for early 2016.”