Westair Aviation (WAA, Windhoek Eros) has announced it will operate its upcoming scheduled flight services under the FlyWestair brand.

The Namibian Part 121 and 135-certificated carrier said in a press release that the move had been made possible after it was granted Designated Carrier status by the Namibian Transport Commission.

FlyWestair's inaugural scheduled routes - the 3x weekly Windhoek Eros-Oranjemund - is slated to launch on June 24.

The carrier has been allocated rights to connect Eros with Walvis Bay and Ondangwa domestically as well as Cape Town International (from Oranjemund and Windhoek) and Johannesburg O.R. Tambo (from Eros and Walvis Bay) regionally. Subject to agreements being reached with the relevant authorities and service providers, the local flights are planned to start from July 2019 while international flights are planned from August 2019.

Operations are on-board E145 equipment of which Westair Aviation operates four.

Westair Aviation had previously operated scheduled flights to mining destinations as part of a contract awarded to it by DEBMARINE Namibia. As such, Wolfgang Grellmann, Chairman of Westair group, said this return had been spurred on by the opportunities that exist in the market with Eros-Oranjemund the most promising route at this stage.

"We’ve always worked very closely with Air Namibia and we have leased aircraft on an Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) basis to Air Namibia (Windhoek International) on a semi-permanent basis for the last eighteen months. This lease agreement came to an end on May 31, 2019. At the moment no one services the Eros–Oranjemund route so there is currently no option available for subcontractors to the mines, people visiting family, consultants and other who wants to visit Oranjemund or Rosh Pinah in the morning and fly out again the same day. FlyWestair’s entrance to the market will serve the local economy and support Air Namibia in developing the sector to make Namibia more competitive in a competitive industry dominated by foreign operators," he said.

Founded in 1967 as an AMO, Westair Aviation is now a fully integrated aviation services provider based at Eros airport. It operates over 30 aircraft on passenger charter flights throughout Namibia for business, governmental, and private clientele.