The start of South African regional carrier FlySafair’s twice-weekly flights between Cape Town and Windhoek on October 22 has been met with excitement from Namibia’s tourism industry, which is also looking forward to increased SAA frequencies from Johannesburg.

South Africa is Namibia’s largest tourist source market, accounting for 46% of the country’s arrivals in 2023, according to statistics from the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT).

Representatives of the MEFT and Namibian Airports Company (NAC) were on site to welcome the touchdown of the inaugural FlySafair flight, which marks the airline’s first international route from Cape Town.

“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,” said FlySafair CMO Kirby Gordon.

NAC Board Chairperson Dr Leake Hangala said the increased connectivity reflected the success of Air Connect Namibia – an air access platform launched this year to lobby for more international routes.

“Air Connect Namibia has been hard at work to promote Namibia as a travel and business destination. We are happy to welcome FlySafair to Windhoek.”

Meanwhile, SAA is on course to add a third daily frequency between Johannesburg and Windhoek on October 27.

MEFT Minister Pohamba Shifeta underlined the importance of air access for Namibia’s tourism sector growth.

“Accessibility is a pillar of the tourism sector recovery process. We will thus continue to support ease of connectivity to the country. We need a sustainable approach to increase frequency and new routes shortly so that it can encourage achievement of the foreign tourist arrivals target,” said Shifeta.

The good news for air connectivity has been somewhat dampened by the indefinite delay of Air Botswana’s flights from Gaborone to Windhoek. The flights were due to start on October 1.

NAC has apologised to the public for the delay and said details of the launch will be communicated in due course.