WINDHOEK, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Qatar Airways' investment in Airlink, an airline mainly serving southern Africa, represents confidence in the region's aviation industry, the managing director of Airlink's Namibia partner, FlyNamibia, said.
"The biggest benefit of Qatar's investment in Airlink, from FlyNamibia's perspective, is the confidence shown by Qatar as a leading international carrier to invest in our industry in Southern Africa," FlyNamibia Managing Director Andre Compion told Xinhua on Thursday.
Qatar Airways on Tuesday announced a 25 percent stake in Airlink.
In September 2022, Airlink acquired a 40 percent stake in FlyNamibia for an undisclosed sum.
"Qatar sees huge potential in the subregion and would rely on their expertise and resources to further develop the shared network to the benefit of all three carriers," Compion said.
"Airlink and FlyNamibia already enjoy a close relationship with Qatar through the shared Global Distribution System, which allows for seamless connectivity between the three carriers," he said.
"As such, Qatar's shareholding in Airlink will not impact our current operational capabilities. We already enjoy access to their whole network," Compion said.
He said FlyNamibia stands to gain from this alliance, as it strengthens the airline's market position and helps attract more passengers.
"FlyNamibia has an important role to play in the provision of scheduled air services domestically and regionally where we are the sole providers of such a service," Compion said. "More passengers will connect to our flights due to higher passenger numbers being fed onto our routes."
"This will allow FlyNamibia to develop more routes and to increase frequencies on existing routes as demand increases," he said.
FlyNamibia is Namibia's first privately owned scheduled passenger airline. It operates domestic routes from Eros Airport in Windhoek to Ondangwa, Katima Mulilo, Luderitz, and Oranjemund, as well as regional routes between Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek and Cape Town International Airport in South Africa.
The airline also runs a route between Namibia's Walvis Bay International Airport and Cape Town International.
