Namibian regional carrier Kalahari Express began operations on 31 October from its Windhoek base.
The Air Namibia subsidiary has acquired two ex-Ansett Australia F28 Mk3000s, with the second to be delivered by the end of the year. The initial network includes services to Cape Town and Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
The start-up comes three years after the original shareholder, a Namibian business consortium, was licensed following a long battle with Air Namibia, which had opposed the application.
Namibian state holding company TransNamib bailed out Kalahari Express in June last year. TransNamib negotiated an equity agreement with South African regional SA Airlink, which would have operated to South Africa.
The start-up was rescheduled for February, but the SA Airlink deal was later nullified. When Air Namibia was corporatised in April, Kalahari became a subsidiary.
Source: Flight International
