Air Namibia Ends Operations - By Daisy BARRO

 

It is a sad day today for the staff of Air Namibia, as the airline finally ended its operations following a cabinet decision to file for voluntary liquidation, leaving over 600 employees jobless.

The information released yesterday February 10, 2021 by the Management of the airline made it clear that effective this morning, “All flight operations will be canceled with all aircraft returning to base.” Also, effective this morning, the reservation system for taking new bookings was suspended.

In a bid to appease agitated clients, the troubled airline has provided e-mail addresses to its customers in case they want to claim a refund for payments made before the unfortunate incident.

According to information leaked to the public, even though staff will lose their jobs, they will continue to enjoy preferential treatment and still benefit from full severance packages from the liquidators.

It should be noted that Air Namibia has been facing serious challenges even before the COVID-19 pandemic, which obviously arrived to compound an already bad situation.

Experts now advise governments to learn from Air Namibia’s story and rethink the idea of having a national carrier, which is more often than not a massive drain pipe for its government since its very existence hangs only on patriotism and national pride, and its survival depends mostly on the government’s bailouts.