The additional morning flight will operate weekdays, Monday to Friday departing from Cape Town International Airport at 05h55 arriving at Windhoek – Hosea Kutako at 08h00.  The return flight will depart from Windhoek – Hosea Kutako at 08h50 arriving at Cape Town International at 10h55.  The service is operated by an Embraer 135 regional jet.

The re-introduction of the early morning flight is in response to customer requests and will allow travelers the freedom to choose from two flights per day offering added convenience and flexibility. The flight has been timed to maximize connection opportunities for guests travelling onward to destinations in Namibia by road and air to places such as Etosha National Park, Sossusvlei, Skeleton Coast, Damaraland amongst others. 

It has transpired that all Instrument Approaches in Namibia that are dependant on land based Navigational Aids have been withdrawn from service with immediate effect by the Namibian Civil Aviation Authority. Airlink is affected by this at two airports, Windhoek (“WDH”) and Walvis Bay (“WVB”). In the case of WDH, an RNAV GNSS approach (which relies solely on aircraft based navigational equipment) is in place and as such Airlink will be able to operate normally. However, in the case of WVB there is no RNAV GNSS approach at this stage or any other alternative to the withdrawn systems, and therefore we will not be able to approach the airport in cloudy conditions. 

We are aware that the Namibian CAA is in the process of designing and emplacing an RNAV GNSS approach at WVB, but there is no indication at this stage as to when this approach facility will be available. In the circumstances, Airlink will encourage that this process be expedited. 

In the interim it is possible that cloudy conditions and low fog are encountered at Walvis Bay, and if this does occur  Airlink’s flight will divert to Johannesburg, or if practicable to Windhoek in order to take on more fuel and attempt to approach the airport again. 
 

Eurowings will operate the Frankfurt-Windhoek route three times a week in winter, using an Airbus A330 aircraft with up to 310 seats.

The first flight will depart Frankfurt on 29 October at 20h00 and arrive in Windhoek on 30 October at 06h15.

The return flight from Windhoek will depart on 30 October 2019 at 08h35 and will arrive in Frankfurt at 18h55.

Bookings can be made via lufthansa.com, the Lufthansa Service Center or Lufthansa travel agency partners, as well as via eurowings.com.

As part of the agreement, Air Seychelles is placing its “HM” code on SAA daily services to the ‘land down under’, Australia. The national airline of Seychelles is also placing its code on SAA daily operations between Johannesburg and the capital city of exotic Namibia.

Charles Johnson, Chief Commercial Officer of Air Seychelles said: “This is yet another step in expanding the global reach of Air Seychelles.

“With an excellent partner like South African Airways, whom we have partnered with for over five years now, we stand to grow additional inbound tourism and business travellers to our beautiful shores.”

“We are very delighted to expand our codeshare agreement with Air Seychelles to Namibia and Australia.

“This enhanced codeshare agreement will strengthen our partnership with Air Seychelles and enable seamless travel options and experience for our mutual customers”, said Pumla Luhabe, Acting Chief Commercial Officer of South African Airways.

As a first step, Eurowings will offer flights from Frankfurt to the popular vacation islands Mauritius and Barbados when the winter flight schedule goes into effect in October 2019. In addition to this, there will also be flights to Windhoek in Namibia, with other destinations currently being planned. All flights will be available for booking as of 13 March 2019. For additional information, please visit lufthansa.com and eurowings.com online or contact the Lufthansa service center at +49 69 86 799 799 (rates to German landlines apply). Flights can also be booked through Lufthansa’s travel agency partners. Return flights to Windhoek, for instance, are available for as little as 599 euros including fees and taxes.

From the Munich hub, Eurowings has already been successfully offering long-haul connections to a selection of tourist destinations since Summer 2018. In the 2019/2020 winter schedule, Eurowings will also be connecting the Bavarian capital with Bangkok (Thailand). Connections from Munich to additional flight destinations are currently being planned.

This step goes hand in hand with a closer cooperation between Lufthansa and Eurowings at Germany’s biggest hub airport: “It is the right strategic step for the Group to combine the strengths of its two largest airlines in Frankfurt: going forward, we will be combining a product tailored to leisure travelers and families and the affordable cost structure of Eurowings with the sales and marketing power of Lufthansa at the Frankfurt location,” says Thorsten Dirks, Member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and CEO of Eurowings. “This makes it possible for the group to successfully evolve its portfolio for the growing tourism and leisure travel segment at Germany’s largest airport.”

For this expansion in the tourism segment, Eurowings will be using a total of seven Airbus A330 aircraft (with up to 310 seats), a portion of its fleet that is operated by Sun Express Deutschland. Capacities will be distributed evenly between the two Lufthansa hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.

The national airline will increase capacity on routes where it often have high levels of spillage and is also introducing flights on days better suited to its clients.

Eros – Ondangwa – Eros: flight frequencies will increase to 20 per week, from previously 17 flights per week. Additional frequencies will be introduced on Fridays, Sundays and Wednesdays. This will result in a total of three flights on each of these three days of the week.

Eros – Katima Mulilo – Eros: flight frequencies will be increased from the current four to five per week, with the new additional rotation scheduled for Thursdays.

Eros – Rundu – Eros: flight frequencies will be increased from the current three to four per week, with the new additional rotation scheduled for Mondays.

Ondangwa – Walvis Bay – Ondangwa: flight frequencies will remain on three flights per week, currently operated on Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Days of operation will change to Fridays, Sundays and Wednesdays.

Windhoek – Lusaka – Windhoek: flights will change days of operation, with frequency increase to four per week, previously three flights per week. New days of operation will be Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Windhoek – Harare – Windhoek: flights will change days of operation, with frequency increase to four per week, previously three flights per week. New days of operation will be Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

According to the airline, the schedule change improvements are in line with the airline’s strategy to grow its domestic and regional market.

In a statement issued by the airline it said that it will now be flying to Gaborone and Durban on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, while flights on Saturdays will be added on the route network effective 28 October.

“Since the introduction of the Embraer on the route under review, we have spillage and load factors in excess of 85% average per flight during August 2018,” said General Manager for Commercial Services, Xavier Masule, while adding that the demand for Durban is mostly high during the period August to December.

Furthermore motivating the move to increase frequencies, Masule said the additional rotations on the route are expected to carry about 70% load factor, generating a positive operating margin of 12%.

Air Namibia launched the route WDH-GBE-DUR during Oct. 2016, following a comprehensive route network development review done. The route is serviced by the Embraer ERJ 135, offering 37 seats in economy class.

In a statment, Airlink said it hopes that this service discontinuation is temporary. Airlink will continue working with the South African Aeronautical Authority to resolve the aeropolitical constraints that have unexpectedly brought about the discontinuation.

Airlink’s flights between Johannesburg and St Helena are not affected and will continue operating normally. The weekly flight departs from Johannesburg for St Helena on Saturdays at 09h00 routing via Windhoek for re-fuelling purposes. The return flight from St Helena departing at 14h30 to Johannesburg will normally operate non-stop but may on some occasions require a refuelling technical stop at Windhoek depending on the strengths and directions of the high altitude winds and the forecast meteorological conditions at Johannesburg.

Tickets can be purchased to fly between Johannesburg and St Helena and there are multiple single ticket multi sector interline connection possibilities available to our customers, with the Johannesburg hub offering abundant interconnectivity especially for customers originating or terminating their itineraries in Cape Town. Please contact your preferred IATA travel agent for assistance in this regard, or contact Airlink’s reservations desk on +27 11 451 7413.

Customers holding confirmed tickets travelling between Cape Town and St Helena will re-route via Johannesburg at no additional cost to the customer. Airlink will continue to advise affected customers of arrangements prior to their departure travel date.

For more details also click here

The airline will now again serve the route daily, instead of the current five weekly service.

The flights are set to depart Doha at 02h00, arriving in Windhoek at 10h40. The return service will depart Windhoek at 12h40, arriving in Doha 23h15.

In October last year, the airline upgraded its service to the Seychelles with the introduction of an A330 aircraft to meet rising passenger demand on the route.

According to the airline, the 260-seater A330 aircraft will increase the airline’s current daily capacity by 130% route, connecting Seychelles-based passengers to more than 150 destinations globally. For more on this story click here

Airlink will operate a weekly service between St Helena and Johannesburg and St Helena and Cape Town (via the stopover at Windhoek International Airport in Namibia).

Tickets will be available online via the Airlink website at https://flyairlink.com/ and through all normal IATA global distribution systems. Passengers are advised to contact their IATA travel agent.

For those passengers that are resident on St Helena, ticket bookings can be made via Solomon & Company (St Helena) Plc’s Shipping & Travel Agency at the Malabar in Jamestown. Passengers can visit the Shipping & Travel Agency in person or can contact shipping.manager@solomons.co.sh or telephone 22523.

Ticket prices start at £804 (including taxes) for an economy return fare on the Johannesburg route and £846 (including taxes) on the Cape Town route. The basic fares for the Johannesburg and Cape Town routes are identical but there is a difference in the overall costs due to differing airport taxes.

The airline is currently pursuing Fifth Freedom Rights on the leg between Windhoek and St Helena, which will allow passengers from other carriers to join or disembark the St Helena service at Windhoek. If granted Fifth Freedom Rights this would mean Airlink could sell tickets for the St Helena and Windhoek legs of the journey.

Airlink will also operate a monthly charter service between St Helena and Ascension Island. The flight will commence on the third weekend in November 2017. Thereafter the flight will take place on the second weekend of every month.