Tourism & Hospitality | Friday 24 February, 2017 7:56 am |

Air Namibia (SW) and Turkish Airlines (TK) have signed a codeshare agreement. Effective as from March 1st, the agreement will cover routes between Turkey and Namibia, and set to expand further travel opportunities for the passengers of the two airlines.

The signing ceremony took place at Turkish Airlines’ Headquarters in İstanbul. Namibia Deputy Minister of Works & Transport honorable Sankwasa James Sankwasa and Turkish Airlines Deputy Chairman and CEO, Bilal Ekşi signed the deal in the presence of senior officials from both sides.

This new codeshare agreement is bound to broaden the commercial partnership between two companies and their respective countries. At the same time, passengers of both airlines will be given more travel options between Namibia and Turkey.

Under the terms of the agreement, Air Namibia and Turkish Airlines are planning to place codes on unilateral flights of SW on Windhoek – Johannesburg v.v. / Windhoek – Frankfurt v.v., and unilateral flights of TK on İstanbul – Johannesburg v.v. / İstanbul – Frankfurt v.v. Also it has been considered that, when SW introduces the Windhoek – İstanbul v.v. flights in future, this codeshare agreement will be expanded by placing the code to include beyond İstanbul flights.

Honorable Sankwasa expressed his satisfaction with this commercial partnership with a well-established and rapidly growing carrier like Turkish Airlines, which enjoys a broad route network. He also expressed that they are happy to conduct this codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines and also added that the deal will be a crucial experience for them. Honourable Sankwasa further stated that he is confident about this cooperation which will be fruitful for both sides and will be enlarged very soon.

Honourable Sankwasa further stated “Air Namibia is a small airline and in order to improve its competitiveness in this high competitive industry, it is important to have a strategic partner, as Turkish Airlines who is an ideal candidate for becoming a partner with. We believe that this will be just one of several future collaborations which will occur between Turkish Airlines and Air Namibia.”

Turkish Airlines’ Deputy Chairman and CEO, Mr. Bilâl Ekşi, commented on the agreement: “We are pleased to sign this codeshare agreement with Air Namibia as our aim is to always enhance our partnerships and maximize the travel opportunities offered to our passengers through our flight networks. Air Namibia continues its expansion successfully, and we believe that this partnership between Turkish Airlines and Air Namibia will benefit both carriers, not only from a commercial perspective, but also in cultural interactions between Turkey and Namibia while also promoting business travel between the two countries.”