Namibian privately-held domestic and regional airline FlyNamibia is, from Monday, promoting its flights and services to travel agents around the world on the Global Distribution System (GDS), as a franchisee of Airlink. The latter is a South African private-sector domestic and regional airline group, which owns 40% of FlyNamibia.

Monday also sees the launch of FlyNamibia’s new website, co-branded with Airlink. The new website will be directly linked into the Amadeus Altea booking platform, thereby simplifying the seat reservation process for the Namibian carrier, as well as making it more user-friendly.

“[J]oining the GDS is a major milestone for our growing airline and it will be a boost for Namibia because it makes our flights, network and schedule visible to customers in parts of the world that, until now, we have been unable to access,” highlighted Andre Compion. “It also lets us provide customers with a convenient, user-friendly and seamless booking platform.”

“This is one of the logical progressions we envisaged when Airlink invested in FlyNamibia last September,” explained Airlink CEO and MD Rodger Foster. “It will help us strengthen air services within Namibia and support the Namibia Airports Company in positioning Windhoek’s Hosea Kutako International Airport as an alternative [Southern Africa Development Community] region gateway hub. By building connectivity and extending FlyNamibia’s reach, we will unlock new markets and efficiencies for Namibia’s business, trade, travel and tourism sectors.”

FlyNamibia reportedly has a current fleet of four Embraer ERJ145 regional airliners. These twin-jet aircraft can carry 50 passengers and, although Airlink does not operate the type, it does operate two smaller members of Embraer’s ERJ family, namely the ERJ140 and the ERJ135. The Namibian carrier currently operates, from its Windhoek hub, a domestic route network (Katima Mulilo, Lüderitz, Ondangwa, Oranjemund, and Rundu) and one international route (to Cape Town).

“Namibia’s economic expansion is stimulating demand for travel to and from the country,” reported Compion. “FlyNamibia’s access to the GDS exponentially enhances and increases our ability to tap into this and open new markets. Whilst we are moving closer and deepening our relationship with Airlink, FlyNamibia will continue to operate its own flights and retain its own unique brand and image. This dovetails neatly with Namibia’s Harambee Prosperity Plan II and the National Transport Policy vision for efficient, world-class air transport services.”