Bay Air Aviation (Windhoek Eros) has distanced itself from Namibia flyafrica (Windhoek International) following an ongoing fiasco involving the reimbursement of funds to passengers who had already bought tickets from the grounded budget carrier.
A joint-venture between Bay Air Aviation (also known as Nomad Aviation) and Mauritius-based investment vehicle flyafrica Ltd, Namibia flyafrica was ordered to suspend operations in November after the Namibian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) ruled its continued use of aircraft leased from Zimbabwe flyafrica (Harare International) violated local aviation laws. Zimbabwe flyafrica has itself been grounded since late October after local shareholder and now former CEO, Chakanyuka Karase, surrendered its Air Operators Certificate (AOC) to the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) following a shareholders' dispute. A subsequent review of the airline's operations revealed a host of violations of local Zimbabwean aviation laws resulting in Zimbabwe flyafrica's continued suspension of service.
Since then, flyafrica's hotlines have been inundated with calls from angry passengers eager for reimbursements for flights they had already booked.
Then, last week, Bay Air Aviation's management issued the following statement via local paper, The Namibian: "Please know that Nomad Aviation has tried its utmost best to bring affordable air travel to Namibia, but unfortunately at this time, it is no longer possible," it said.
"Nomad Aviation has decided to suspend its ties with FlyAfrica so that the Namibian people are no further inconvenienced. We have been assured by FlyAfrica that all refunds will be paid out as all funds were received by FlyAfrica and no ticket sales were received by Nomad Aviation."
Namibia flyafrica's entry into the Southern African market has not been easy with local state-backed carrier Air Namibia (Windhoek International) having attempted to block its launch. In a court case filed in Windhoek in September, Air Namibia questioned the scope of Bay Air Aviation's original Air Services Licence (ASL). Namibia flyafrica eventually managed to commence revenue operations with flights to Johannesburg Johannesburg Lanseria.
As such, the DCA has said the LCC can resume operations pending a full "re-validation mission." Given its use of B737-500s leased from its Zimbabwean sister firm, that may take a while as reports out of Harare indicate the local tax authority, ZIMRA, gave Zimbabwe flyafrica until December 22 to settle a hefty USD2,546,460.41 tax bill or face unspecified penalties. At the time of going to press, it is uncertain whether the arrears have been settled or not.
The ongoing fiasco with flyafrica Ltd's two existing operations has led to delays in the roll out of its Mozambique flyafrica (Maputo) and Gabon flyafrica (Libreville Leon M'Ba) units. Registered as Balmoral Aviation Lda, Mozambique flyafrica is a 51/49 joint venture between the Mozambican firm Balmoral Corporate Investments Lda and flyafrica. For its part, Gabon flyafrica is a joint-venture between the Gabonese government and Paramount Group, a South African arms manufacturer owned by Lithuania-born Ivor Ichikowitz. It is, however, uncertain how flyafrica Ltd is tied up in the project.
