WELCOME ON BOARD

FlyWestair Welcome on Board

Sit back and enjoy your flight with FlyWestair.

We take it that you have arrived at Eros Airport in time to relish your complimentary coffee at our SkyLounge after checking in. Now you can relax and let yourself be pampered by our friendly staff.

Our journey thus far might not have been turbulence-free, but the Westair Management Team has certainly risen to the challenge since we decided to launch FlyWestair two years ago.

Under the Bilateral Air Services Agreement between the governments of South Africa and Namibia each country may designate three airlines per route. To qualify as a designated carrier you have to comply with a lengthy process. Before FlyWestair started the new service from Oranjemund to Cape Town International, South Africa was represented by three designated carriers. Now Namibia can proudly say that we are represented by two.

We are proud of our status as the country’s first privately owned scheduled passenger airline. This means that our airline does not cost the Namibian government a single cent, while stimulating much needed economic growth, fostering job creation and empowering local enterprise. We strive to maintain a reputation as an airline that operates on time, pays its landing fees, parking fees, approach fees, navigational fees, security fees and passenger tax, without fail.

Our growth in passenger figures indicates to us that we are doing something right. It was unfortunate that we had to change the frequency of the Eros to Oranjemund to Cape Town route, and we apologise for that. The present capacity

on the ground at both Eros and Oranjemund cannot cope with the increased passenger numbers. Westair is in discussion with Home Affairs to find an amicable solution.

You may well ask why we service Oranjemund.

The town has been the base for a hugely profitable onshore diamond mining operation run by Namdeb and its predecessors for decades. As with all mining operations there is an end to a mine’s lifespan due to extractable resources having been exhausted. There was a possibility that once the diamonds were depleted, Oranjemund could turn into a ghost town. Fortunately, there are powers at work preventing this. Oranjemund is now an open town and visitors no longer need an invitation or police clearance or to be screened upon entering the town. This will give Oranjemund a new lease on life. No better way to achieve this, than by connecting the town directly with Eros Airport and Cape Town.

Our Oranjemund inaugural flight landed on Wednesday, 24 July, with dignitaries, the press and travel agents on board. We were warmly welcomed by the Mayor, Henry Coetzee, and Regional Constituency Councillor Lazarus Nangola. During a lunch meeting, Retha van der Schyf, MD of OMDIS (a private agency hired as an economic development accelerator), enlightened our guests about the plans to transform Oranjemund into a town with a diversified economy. For this to happen and to stimulate tourism and private enterprise, Oranjemund needs easy access to the rest of Namibia and South Africa.

Westair is proud to be a partner in this transformation.

Wolfgang Grellmann - Chairman, Westair Aviation