Air Namibia (Windhoek International) has confirmed the seizure by Zimbabwean authorities of an E145, owned and operated by Westair Aviation (WAA, Windhoek Eros), during operations for Air Namibia itself on Friday, October 5.
The carrier said in a statement that the Zimbabwean Sheriff impounded V5-WEB (msn 145440) at Harare International on Friday last week as a result of an ongoing legal matter that was instituted by a Zimbabwean family of four against Air Namibia.
In June, the High Court in Harare ruled the family could seize the airline's assets and aircraft as part of a USD1 million lawsuit claim.
The family had sued Air Namibia for damages for what they claimed was their unlawful detention at Windhoek International and subsequent deportation back to Zimbabwe back in February 2017. Air Namibia had, in its defence, said it had been told by German immigration officials not to allow the family onto the Windhoek-Frankfurt International sector of their journey whose ultimate destination was Istanbul Atatürk.
Air Namibia subsequently approached the Zimbabwean Supreme Court to overturn the high court ruling. According to The Daily News, this application was rejected in late September leading to the jet's seizure. Aside from the aircraft, the family has also been allowed to attach any of Air Namibia's movable property at its downtown Harare office.
"Air Namibia is busy engaging a lawyer in Zimbabwe to attend to the matter and advise the airline further," spokesman Paul Nakawa said adding that by law, leased equipment is not subject to attachment.
Following dialogue, Nakawa later told The Namibian newspaper that the Embraer jet was released on Saturday morning.
