Namibia flights by Eurowings Discover are back to normal

Namibia holidaymakers who booked their flights with Eurowings Discover no longer need to brace themselves for extended flight times. "Since Saturday, the flight route is again via Niger," the press office of the holiday airline replied yesterday in response to a query from Namibian.org News. Outbound and return flights take place at night and last ten to ten and a half hours. 

Niger had closed its airspace in the wake of the military coup in the night from Wednesday to Thursday last week. Eurowings Discover therefore had to cancel two flights at short notice and then fly around the Sahel state of Niger (see Namibian.org news report ). 

"The route via Mali remains in place as an alternative option," the statement said. This route is about 45 minutes longer. "The safety of our guests and crew is our top priority at all times." 

The airline also responded to complaints from Namibian tour operators that there had already been delayed flights before and that customers had had to wait for their flights for days in some cases. 

"Due to technical defects on aircraft, there have been individual postponements in the flight schedule over the past few days," the press office said. "The affected passengers have all been rebooked on alternative flights. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to our guests." 

Eurowings Discover flies ten times a week directly from Frankfurt to Windhoek. Three of the flights continue to VicFalls in Zimbabwe. From there, it is back to Windhoek the same day and then back to Frankfurt by night flight.