WINDHOEK, 25 FEB (NAMPA) – A proposal by a Turkish airline presented to the government would not have saved Air Namibia’s insolvency and no other company national or internationally was willing to inject money in the national airline.
This is according to Public Enterprises Minister Leon Jooste who was responding to questions in parliament on Wednesday by Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) President, Mike Kavekotora who accused the Government of turning a blind eye to advice by Namibian Ambassador to Germany, Andreas Guibeb to consider a proposal made in 2020 to rescue Air Namibia through a strategic partnership with Onuair, a Turkish private airline.
Kavekotora was among several parliamentarians who accused the government of not listening to advice to invite companies to invest and partner with the government in saving the airline.
Jooste said the Turkish airline proposal was not addressing Air Namibia’s troubles and would not have bailed the airline out of financial trouble.
According to him, the proposal suggested that government and the Turkish airline come up with an African airline that would be based in Namibia.
He said the company offered to relocate six of their own company aircraft to Namibia and register a company in Namibia.
“The offer was to start an international African airline based in Namibia with their own aircraft and did not make any offer to Air Namibia. The offer would not have addressed any of the challenges faced by Air Namibia at that time,” he said.
Jooste also noted that the government at the time had approached several airlines that operate in Namibia and those that intend to operate in the country’s air space, asking for partnerships and investments aimed to rescue the airline but no one was willing to inject money into the troubled airline.
“We made it clear that Air Namibia needed equity investment and without it, the company’s troubles would not be solved but no one was willing to invest in Air Namibia to turn it around,” he said.
Jooste said the Air Namibia experience has taught them a big lesson and that is to immediately intervene as soon as the commercial viability of a public enterprise is threatened. He said the process of implementing an integrated electronic performance evaluation and monitoring system is at an advanced stage, which would allow the ministry to track the performance of public enterprises on a constant basis and identify problems before escalating and conceptualize remedies with minimal damage.