Air traffic in Namibia: not yet at pre-corona level

The number of air travellers in Namibia will probably only return to levels from the time before corona restrictions in the course of this year. This was announced by the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) at its annual general meeting last week. The company hopes to close the current financial year by the end of March at 90 per cent of the pre-corona level. This would require the threshold of one million passengers to be exceeded in March.

According to NAC's annual report for the year from March 2022 to March 2023, the country's airports handled more than 850,000 passengers. This was almost twice as many as in the same period of the previous year, when the figure was just under 430,000. However, compared to the pre-corona year 2019/2020 with more than 1.16 million passengers, the figure translated only to 73 per cent.

Nevertheless, the airport operator was able to be in the black again in the 2022/2023 financial year. After a loss of over 93.4 million Namibian dollars (currently around 4.6 million euros) in the previous year, the company made a profit of 19.4 million Namibian dollars (a good 950,000 euros).

At its annual meeting, the NAC indicated that it firmly expects a further increase in air traffic in Namibia. Plans include the expansion of Hosea Kutako International Airport near Windhoek with a third terminal, the construction of new terminal buildings at Katima Mulilo and Rundu airports and the upgrading of the airport near Lüderitz.

Sven-Eric Stender