Air Namibia suspends SA routes for four weeks
Air Namibia has confirmed the suspension of its Cape Town and Johannesburg routes for at least four weeks, as two of its Embraer jets (ERJ) undergo scheduled heavy maintenance checks from 16 November.
The national airline has been making use of the two smaller aircraft since the reopening of the international borders towards the end of October.
The previously used aircraft – the airbus A319 with 112 seats – was deemed not economically viable due to current decline in passenger demand. All domestic routes will continue to operate
as scheduled, as they remain unaffected by the maintenance.
Due to the upcoming maintenance, the airline will be operating two of the four aircraft only as of 16 November 2020.
“In line with its vision statement of being a safe, reliable, efficient and caring airline, Air Namibia operates a fleet carefully selected to meet expectations of its stakeholders. These expectations include performance dependability and comfort,” Theo Mberirua, interim CEO said.
“These heavy scheduled maintenance activities will be undertaken by our own Namibian employees, who are
fully trained and certified aircraftmaintenance engineers. The Air Namibia maintenance team is duly registered and has been maintaining the ERJ fleet for the past 10 years.” Air Namibia added the safety and regulatory compliance are the cornerstones and at the heart of its operations – and as such called on clients and stakeholders to understand and bear with them as they maintain equipment to ensure operational excellence and uncompromised levels of safety.
“We would like to apologise to the flying public and our esteemed clients for the temporary suspension of the two international routes,” the statement read.