Welcome on Board
FlyWestair
W
elcome on Board FlyWestair flights celebrating 30 years of independence this month.
When Namibia became independent three decades ago Westair had already been in operation for 23 years. We were ready! It was About Time in 1990 as it is About Time in 2020. Independence liberalised aviation in Namibia because it became possible for a private aviation company to obtain a charter licence. Thirty years on, and again this liberalisation of the economy enables private companies to operate scheduled flights. Westair again became the first to obtain that licence and start operating scheduled flights. The younger people in this country and in Westair are the “born free� generation. They have not experienced anything other than a liberalised economy. They inherited a country with policies that are pro-growth and prodevelopment and we hope to be able to continue building our future and our business without restrictions that hamper growth and development.
Our wish is that 30 years after independence our Government’s priorities would be to focus on the social challenges in the country, allowing private enterprise to face the economic challenges in an enabling environment created by Government. We like to point out the example where Government operates tourism facilities inside national parks, while the private sector around the parks makes tourism boom. Our policy at Westair has always been to reinvest in the company because we are committed to develop aviation in Namibia. That is one of the reasons why we introduced scheduled flights. The time was right and we have to grow our business, or stagnate. Westair can do it. We are lean and mean, and we have operated a scheduled service for DHL for 25 years with 99% dispatch reliability. As for the next 30 years: Westair plans to introduce a Safari Route which will add value to the tourism sector. Instead of increasing the carbon footprint, we intend to decrease it by carrying more passengers on one aircraft, after they have arrived in Windhoek on an international or regional flight, to reach their first destination on the same day. We do not intend to change existing travel patterns, but we are going to expand a different component.
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