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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

► NIGERIA: Air Namibia to establish direct Lagos flights next year?

Air NamibiaOver the course of the coming year, Namibian carrier, Air Namibia (SW) is allegedly to start direct flights between Namibia and Nigeria, according to the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, speaking as a proxy for Nigeria's Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah-Ogiewonyi. He made the remarks during the recently ended 18th Aviation & Allied Business Leadership Conference, held over the weekend in Windhoek, Namibia.

At present, Air Namibia's sole connection to West Africa is a 3x weekly flight to the Ghanaian capital, Accra.

During his presentation to the Conference, Dr. Demuren lamented Nigeria's bureaucratic bungling, which he said, had been the cause of delays in establishing a dedicated airlink between the two countries.
Air Namibia's Network [Click to Enlarge]
Air Namibia's Route Network
"All that will be over next year. We would have direct flight to Namibia by the time the 19th aviation conference is being held next year,” she said, noting that while Nigeria was still delaying establishing air connectivity between the two African countries, Ghana cashed in on the delays and opened a direct flight from Accra to Windhoek.We have been on it for long. We started it before Ghana. We were the first one to make the move but there have been bureaucratic delays. Everybody must take blame in government; NCAA, Ministries of Aviation and Foreign Affairs."