Air Namibia partners with Lufthansa

Air Namibia and Lufthansa have concluded an interline agreement, which will offer passengers a ‘one stop’ flight between Windhoek and 28 European countries.

Since August last year, passengers have been able to use Lufthansa as a second carrier, allowing the combination of the two airlines in one ticket. This was for all routings from Windhoek to Lufthansa’s European destinations via Frankfurt.

The new agreement extends the partnership to open up the UK to Air Namibia passengers via Frankfurt. Passengers now have easy access from Windhoek to six points in the UK – Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dublin.

In a statement this week, the airline said that it is “currently actively promoting the greater part of Europe, including countries such as Russia and Turkey as well as the Middle East and the Far East”.

Xavier Masule, General Manager: Commercial Services says in order to access these beyond markets optimally, Air Namibia has to forge smart alliances with airlines operating in Europe.

“It is necessary for Air Namibia to partner with appropriate airlines to feed into our flights at Frankfurt.  Frankfurt is Lufthansa’s hub and this makes Lufthansa the most appropriate and ideal airline to partner with,” says Masule.

Hence, effective 1 Dec 2013, an “airline to airline” commercial partnership agreement was concluded and implemented between Air Namibia and Lufthansa..

“This agreement enables traffic to feed and de-feed (traffic exchange) at Frankfurt between Lufthansa and Air Namibia with a convenient ‘one stop’ connection to more than 63 cities in Europe, including big cities in Germany on one issued ticket by Air Namibia,” Masule adds.

The move should be a welcome relief to travellers from Windhoek wishing to visit cities in Europe and vice versa as all other options for travel between any European destination and Windhoek involves either a minimum of two stops or at least a leg to be served using a train journey, which is long, inconvenient and time consuming.

“Europe is now more accessible and convenient than ever before. Air Namibia gives passengers access to multiple cities within each European country on a one ticket and one stop journey,” Masule concluded.

With its new alliance Air Namibia offers one-stop connectivity to the following countries: