Air Namibia Cancels Gaborone Route

According to southerntimesafrica, Air Namibia has suspended its flights to Gaborone in Botswana, due to low passenger volumes.
The Namibian national carrier introduced the route a year ago and initially operated three flights a week, before the flight schedule changed to include a fourth flight, when Air Namibia re-arranged its network.
Air Namibia General Manager Commercial Services Xavier Masule recently revealed that there is limited traffic on the route, and although they had frequent flyers, the levels were not sufficient.
 “We captured 86% market share, but this translates to a load factor of 35%, meaning that even if we had 100% market share, we would still have a load factor of less than 45%,” he said.
 According to Masule, for Air Namibia to break even at 50% load factor, they would need to increase fares by 106%. But, he also warned that fares are already too high to even consider increasing, given that passengers have the option of competitors via Johannesburg.
Air Namibia will, however, continue the Maun route, which they say is critical for the transportation of tourists from Botswana and Namibia.

Gaborone Industry Event

The first in a series of Spotlight Travel workshops and exhibitions will take place in Gaborone, Botswana on the 9th of February. The event will be promoting travel from Botswana to Southern Africa countries and the rest of Africa, as well as domestic leisure and conference tourism within Botswana. For delegates attending, there’s the opportunity to meet and network with 20 exhibitors from hotels, lodges, airlines, tourism boards and other suppliers. There will be two sessions on the 9th of February – the breakfast session takes place between 08h00 and 11h00, whilst the late afternoon session takes place between 17h00 and 19h00. The venue for the first workshop will be Cresta Lodge in Gaborone. For more detail, email norah@thebusinesscentre.co.bw or visit www.spotlightworkshops.co.za. Alternatively, contact Derek Houston - derek@houstonmarketing.co.za;  +27 82 464 0901.