Air Namibia marks inaugural flight to Nigeria
Bukola Odufade is Businessamlive Reporter.
You can contact her on bukola.odufade@businessamlive.com with stories and commentary.
Air Namibia over the weekend marked its inaugural entry into Nigeria as part of its long term plan to expand into the western Africa market.
The Namibian national carrier, which starts with four times a week flights said successful opening of the Lagos route would further open various parts of Africa to each other and other parts of the continent.
Peingeondjabi Titus Shipoh, the High Commissioner of Namibia to Nigeria, expressed his excitement to see the country’s national airline berth in Lagos.
“It is an honor to welcome you to the inaugural flight of Air Namibia to Lagos from Windhoek City in Namibia,” he said.
He also said the role of transport and logistics sector has become extremely important for the African continent.
“I am applauding Air Namibia for taking advantage of the opening of African skies. This is an opening of new and more dynamic chapter in furthering and consolidating relationship between Nigeria and Namibia. This route will enable cooperation in all sectors; facilitate entry of Namibian investors to this strategic market. Air Namibia’s venture into the ECOWAS market is to establish a win-win cooperation to exploit available business opportunities, add value to the natural resources that both our countries are endowed with,” Shipoh said.
Paul Nakawa, the spokesman of Air Namibia, who represented the management of the airline said it was a dream come true that Air Namibia now operates into Lagos.
“We are happy to come to Nigeria. We are here to stay. Namibia is open to Nigeria and we have a lot of things to offer. The first departure of Air Namibia to Accra from Lagos Nigeria on the 29 of June, 2018 is a special occasion and calls for celebration. This is a major milestone for our airline as we journey forward.
“The creation of Air Namibia has gone a long way in connecting Southern Africa and West Africa. This comes as another option, given the fact that there are other players already in the market. Our objective is to create inter African trade and integration. We launched five routes in a space of three years,” Nakawa said.
Chike Ohiagu, general manager, APG, the general sales agent (GSA) of Air Namibia, added there has been positive response to the flight of the airline to Nigeria with huge requests for Air Namibia’ flight tickets.