Chamwe Kaira
Namibia and Botswana plan to establish a joint national airline with support from a strategic partner, Botswana’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has announced.
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and Duma Gideon Boko first announced the plan during the Bi-National Commission held in Namibia in 2025.
“The airline will cement our relationship in the transport sector – connect Windhoek and Gaborone directly to each other and to key regional and international destinations. Just as we lay rail across the Kalahari Desert, we will also lay flight paths across African skies together,” the airline said.
At the same time, the Namibian government is moving ahead with plans to launch a new national airline, Namibia Air, before the end of 2026.
The minister of information and communication technology, Emma Theofelus, said the process is underway and the airline will be a new entity, not a revival of Air Namibia.
She said a technical team is reviewing different operating models, including partnerships with international airlines such as Ethiopian Airlines.
The team will present its findings to the line minister before Cabinet makes a final decision. No launch date has been set.
Air Namibia was liquidated in 2021 after years of financial losses.
Former finance minister Ipumbu Shiimi at that time said the airline had accumulated debt of about N$3 billion, including government-backed liabilities of N$2.58 billion.
He said the airline could not recover from its financial position, which worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Plans to revive the airline would have required more than N$4 billion, which the government could not support.
Attempts to find partners, including South African Airways, Lufthansa, KLM, British Airways, Emirates and Qatar Airways, did not succeed.
The government remained responsible for aircraft lease guarantees estimated between N$2 billion and N$2.5 billion.
