Opening of Kenya Airways office will boost Air Namibia’s revenue

The new Kenya Airways office that was officially opened in Windhoek this week will help boost Air Namibia’s revenue, an airline official has said. Model African airline Kenya Airways opened a representative office in Windhoek on Tuesday, 19 November through global airline agent, Air Promotions Group. The office will be used to sell Kenya Airways products in Namibia. This comes after Kenya Airways partnered Air Namibia in June in a code share agreement that sees Air Namibia selling seats under its own name on Kenya Airways operated flights and vice versa. The arrangement also allows Air Namibia to provide its clients with worldwide services as Kenya Airways has a route network covering 59 destinations worldwide. Xavier Masule, Air Namibia’s General Manager for Commercial services this week welcomed the decision by Kenya Airways to open a local representative office describing the move as positive. “It is a positive move which will help both airlines increase market share as a result of combined forces to sell the same product, being the route Windhoek to Nairobi. The code share is about revenue sharing from each passenger who flies irrespective of which airline sold the ticket. The benefit for Air Namibia is even more because passengers going to destinations not covered in the code share will also be able to fly Air Namibia on the first leg out. The more sales outlets and options from which people can access us the better,” Masule said. He said Air Namibia has seen an increase in passenger numbers on its flights between Windhoek and Nairobi since signing the code share agreement with Kenya Airways. “The increase in passenger numbers translates to additional revenue. The passenger number evolution is increasing and all looks positive.” Rosemary Adogo, Kenya Airways Area Manager for Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Islands said the success of the code share agreement has been the visibility of Air Namibia’s flights on Kenya Airways network and Kenya airways flights on Air Namibia’s network. She said the move to open an office in Windhoek will compliment the efforts of Air Namibia in that it is an added joint effort to sell the code share between Kenya Airways and Air Namibia on the local market. “We are proud of this step and looking forward for immense support from the Namibia public while thanking the Namibia government and Air Namibia for all the support given to bring Kenya Airways this far,” Adogo said.