Airlink (South Africa) (4Z, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) has announced plans to move the technical stopover point on its Johannesburg O.R. Tambo-St. Helena route from Windhoek International to Walvis Bay.
In a statement, the South African carrier said the switch would take place from April 7 onwards.
"With Walvis Bay located at 300ft above sea-level with cooler meteorological conditions compared to Windhoek at 5,600ft above sea level, Airlink will benefit by accommodating an additional 11 customers between Johannesburg and St Helena Island," it said. "Currently the flight is restricted to 87 seats, including 6 business class seats, on departing from Windhoek due to high temperature and high airport elevation."
Service will remain onboard E190 equipment and will continue to operate 2x weekly. Airlink has attempted, in the past, to persuade authorities in Namibia to grant it 5th Freedom rights on the Namibia-St Helena-Namibia sectors of the route but to no avail.
