Through its cost containment strategy and financial discipline, the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) has reached breakeven point and preliminary 2022/2023 financials depict a profit position, NAC Board chairperson, Leake Hangala has revealed.
Coupled by this, the recovery in airport volumes at Hosea Kutako International Airport continue increasing resultant of improved passenger volumes due to increased international and local tourism.
Business Express understands that currently the NAC is operating at about 78% of pre-Covid levels.
Notably, NAC recorded a decline in revenue growth between 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 financial year from N$420 million to N$76 million, attributed to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation has gradually improved with N$192 million recorded for the 2021/2022 financial year.
The NAC Board and Management would like to express our gratitude to the government for their support in aiding the NAC to transform the aviation industry. Over the three financial years the salient infrastructural and service improvements at the airports were the Apron and taxiways at Katima Mulilo Airport and Andimba Toivo Ya Toivo Airport; runway, apron and taxiway upgrade at Eros Airport as well as the successful completion of the congestion alleviation project at Hosea Kutako International Airport to the tune of N$250 million, amongst others,” Hangala said.
LOOMING MAJOR UPGRADES
Going forward, NAC has set out to implement capital projects to further improve its services. Firstly, the Hosea Kutako International Airport congestion alleviation project will seek to extend the VIP/VVIP facilities to bring them to adequate standards in terms of facilitation and the size of the Presidential Lounge as well as parking configuration.
“The cost of the project is N$18 million which has been secured from central government. Documentation has been submitted and discussions are underway with MIRCO,” Hangala further stated.
Further, NAC is planning the Apron expansion at Hosea Kutako International Airport at a cost of N$100 million, funded by Government over a two-year period. The Expression of Interest (EOI) for procurement of consultancy services was issued and evaluation for consultants is underway.
Apart from this, the construction of Terminal 3 at Hosea Kutako International Airport remains imminent. Hangala explained that submission was tendered to the Ministerial Committee on 19 May 2023 outlining the NAC’s position on financing of the project where the preferred option would be through shareholder funding or a loan. The Public Private Partnership (PPP) option is to be considered as a last resort.
As previously reported, NAC is also in the process of establishing the AiRRhow Centre of Excellence (CoE) for African Civil Aviation at Keetmanshoop. This is a collaborative initiative with the Finnish Government and private sector.
“ The Minister of Works and Transport appointed a Steering Committee, with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) as the coordinating agency to collaborate with the Finnish Tampere University in regards to the feasibility study and related aspects of this project,” Hangala said.
Construction of new terminal buildings at Katima Mulio, Rundu and Lüderitz airports is also in the works with the initiative designed to aid the NAC to meet the current demand and improve service delivery for the envisaged national developments in the resources sector, namely green hydrogen, and oil discoveries.
“Progress on the development of Katima Mulilo is good. We have engaged community stakeholders and reached agreement on the land required opposite the current facilities. This will enable us to construct entirely new facilities without the constraints of operating in a military zone.
“Developments in the tourism sector are hastening our approach to this airport. Similarly, we are negotiating for additional land in Rundu for the same purposes. The oil and gas sector, together with Green Hydrogen initiatives, have escalated our plans for Luderitz. While the runway is suitable in the short-term, we need to entirely revamp the landside facilities to accommodate this sector,” Hangala said.
Hangala also noted that the NAC is informally, engaging with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to provide assistance and resources for a mid-term review of our Integrated Strategic Business Plan.
“We are fully aware that any formal engagement with the AfDB needs to be done through the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises, and these discussions will be elevated to the appropriate level when the right time comes.
“It is our view that events have overtaken the assumptions of the original business plan, mainly the COVID-19 pandemic, rebound in tourism and the extension of the greater tourism season. Developments in the resources sector all require us to revisit this Strategic Plan. We have also requested the AfDB’s assistance in developing business cases for these developments,” explained Hangala.
With upgrades in flight, NAC has already begun sourcing new airlines to ply the Namibia route.
As part of the NAC’s Route Development initiative, management met with 5 airlines in Europe in particular, British Airways, Condor Airlines, Edelweiss, Eurowings Discover and KLM in April 2023 to prepare the groundwork for future international flights from these potential (and existing) carriers. As an outflow of the said Route Development initiative major airlines such as Edelweiss and KLM are expected to commence flight operations to Namibia within the next twelve (12) months.
“The NAC received notification through the Ministry of Works and Transport that the Government of the Republic of Zambia has designated the Zambia Airways Limited to operate a scheduled passenger carrier on the Lusaka – Windhoek – Lusaka route. The planned dates for operations, including the flight schedules, are yet to be communicated for consideration and approval,” said Bisey Uirab, the CEO of NAC.
Currently, Eurowings Discovery and Ethiopian Airlines have increased their flight frequencies at Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA) due to increasing passenger demand globally. Eurowings increased its flight frequencies to ten (10) flights per week including Victoria Falls route effective from 27 March 2023 until end of October 2023. Ethiopian Airlines on its part increased its flight frequencies to seven (7) flights weekly, effective from 28 March 2023.
“As alluded to earlier on, NAC was successful in its bid to host the AviaDev Africa conference in June 2024. This would be the first time the event is held in Namibia as it represents the impact of the Namibia Aviation and Connectivity Forum held in 2022. Aviadev is a premier platform dedicated to growing connectivity to, from and within the African continent in line with the principles of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM),” concluded Uirab.
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