Namibia Air has received scheduled and non-scheduled air service licences from Namibia's Transportation Commission, marking a key milestone in the establishment of the country's new national carrier.
The licences, effective from August 6, 2026, and valid for five years, were handed to minister of works and transport, Veikko Nekundi, before being presented to interim board chairman, Jonas Sheelongo, in Windhoek, reported The Namibian and New Era newspapers.
As a result, the airline may now acquire aircraft, with the first commercial flights targeted for the first week of December 2026. As previously reported, the start-up intends to operate both scheduled and charter flights across Namibia and internationally, using a fleet of four E145s and three E170s or E175s, to be acquired for USD35 million.
Before operations can begin, however, Namibia Air must still obtain an air operator certificate (AOC), a five-stage certification process the transport ministry expects to complete within 90 days.
Sheelongo said lessons learned from the collapse of Air Namibia would help ensure the new carrier's long-term sustainability.
The airline is being established under a directive from President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to restore a national flag carrier following Air Namibia's liquidation in February 2021, having racked up USD11.3 million in debt over lease arrears to now also-defunct Belgian carrier Challengair.
Sheelongo made no mention of a proposed partnership with Ethiopian Airlines or any other airline, after it was previously reported that Namibia officially requested assistance from Ethiopian Airlines to help launch Namibia Air. No further mention was made either of plans for Namibia and neighbouring Botswana to set up a joint airline backed by an unnamed strategic partner.
Currently, FlyNamibia (WV, Windhoek Eros) - the scheduled brand of ACMI/charter specialist Westair Aviation – is Namibia's only scheduled passenger airline, operating domestic and regional services.
Capacity at Windhoek International is dominated by Airlink (South Africa) which holds more than 32% market share in terms of weekly passenger seats, followed by Discover Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airways, Edelweiss Air, TAAG Angola Airlines, FlySafair, and Proflight Zambia, according to ch-aviation data.
