FlySafair, South Africa’s leading low-cost airline, landed at Hosea Kutako International Airport at around 12H58, connecting Cape Town, South Africa to Windhoek. This marks the first regional route for FlySafair from Cape Town, making cross-border travel between the two cities more accessible and affordable for customers.
L - R: Obert Chakarisa-FlySafair Executive; Elizabeth Theron- Consul General From Namibia to South Africa; Dr Leake Hangala-Chairman NAC, Sebulon Chicalu- Tourism and Gaming Director - Ministry of Environmental & Tourism, Blacky Komani-Chairman FlySafAir, Elize Petersen-Deputy Chair NAC and Bisey /Uirab- CEO NAC.
“We are extremely excited to have this highly anticipated route operational before the summer holidays at the end of the year and offer our customers further opportunities to visit loved ones, explore the sights of Namibia and its capital, or enjoy a trip to Cape Town conveniently. It has been a long-time goal of ours to expand into the Windhoek market and with more aircraft availability in Cape Town, we have been able to make this a reality, enhancing connectivity between two popular destinations in southern Africa,” says Kirby Gordon, Chief Marketing Officer at FlySafair.
Namibia’s Minister of Tourism Pohamba Shifeta in his statement delivered by the Director of Tourism and Gaming Sebulon Chicalu states it is never a doubt that crucial to the effective development of tourism products is destination assurance, which strengthens our trustworthiness in the marketplace. It is to deliver on our promise! This, together with our travel & tourism and hospitality partners, is indeed focused on delivering.
“The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism has in its National Tourism Sector Recovery Plan 2022 -2024, under program 14, “Improve Air Access to Namibia and Tourism Flagships” underlined without uncertainty that Accessibility to Namibia is a Pillar of the tourism sector recovery process. We will thus continue to support the ease of connectivity to the country. We need a sustainable approach to increase both frequency and new routes shortly so that it can encourage the achievement of the target of foreign tourist arrivals” Shifeta says.
NAC Board Chairperson Dr Leake Hangala indicates that attracting new routes, building aviation capacity, and lowering airfares are part of our government’s agenda to grow the Namibia economy and create jobs.
“It is for this reason that “Air-Connect Namibia”, a Forum initiated by the Namibia Airports Company, and consisting of all key stakeholders in the aviation and tourism sectors has been hard at work to promote Namibia as a travel and business destination. We are thus happy to welcome FlySafair to Windhoek.”
Historically, flying between Cape Town and Windhoek was a costly exercise, with airfares ranging between N$ 5,000 and N$ 9,000. FlySafair is now offering tickets from just N$2 000*, providing a budget-friendly option for travelers to see family and friends, pursue business interests in both cities or for students studying in Cape Town, for example, to fly home to Namibia.
FlySafair's inaugural route landed at Hosea Kutako International Airport with 126 passengers while the flight back to Cape Town depatured with 141 passengers. Cape Town to Windhoek flights will run twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays.