BY: TIRI MASAWI
The Works and Transport Ministry has confirmed engaging Ethiopian Airways with a bid to find a partner to launch the planned national airline, Namibia Air.
In a statement released on Tuesday Works and Transport Executive Director Jonas Sheelongo said,” The Ministry confirms that discussions with Ethiopian Airlines, as well as consultations with local aviation operators and other relevant stakeholders, are ongoing.”
Sheelongo said the engagements are ‘part of a comprehensive and open process to assess the most viable and sustainable model for operationalizing Namibia Air.’
His sentiments comes after Namibia Business Review reported that Ethiopian Airlines is seeking management control of Namibia’s planned national airline, including the appointment of the chief executive officer, chief financial officer and head of maintenance, while Namibia is pushing for an equity partnership with the Ethiopian carrier.
The proposed arrangement, revealed in an internal Ministry of Works and Transport briefing to Minister Veikko Nekundi, emerged from meetings between the two sides in Addis Ababa on 21 and 22 August.
The Namibian delegation was led by Executive Director Jonas Sheelongo, who is also chairman of the Technical Committee for the National Airline. The delegation met Ethiopian Airlines chief executive officer Mesfin Tasew Bekele and senior management to discuss cooperation in establishing Namibia Air.
Ethiopian Airlines has agreed to explore a management contract and provide technical support, but has stopped short of committing to take a stake in Namibia Air.
The airline told the Namibian delegation that any future equity participation would depend on the business plan being commercially feasible and would require management control, including the chief executive officer, chief financial officer and maintenance positions.
Sheelongo added that, “The Government is committed to exploring various forms of technical and strategic cooperation, while ensuring that Namibian expertise and national interests remain central to any future arrangement.”
He said the the primary purpose of the consultations is to ensure that the mistakes of the past, which ultimately led to the financial collapse and closure of Air Namibia, are avoided at all costs in the establishment and operation of the new national airline.
“The Government is determined to build a financially sustainable, operationally efficient, and commercially viable airline that will serve Namibians for generations to come,” Sheelongo said.
Sheelongo said the discussions with Ethiopian Airlines are ‘analytic in nature and have covered a broad range of technical and commercial matters. ‘
“However, no binding commitments have been entered into with any party at this stage.The Ministry reiterates its commitment to keeping the public and all stakeholders duly informed of the steps being undertaken in the operationalization of Namibia Air,” He said.
In the same vein Minister of Works and Transport Veikko Nekundi refused to answer questions posed by the independent Patriots for Change in parliament over the planned airline’s business plan.
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