Cash-strapped Air Namibia slashes wages

Almost half of Air Namibia’s 800 employees have had their salaries slashed in half as the airline battles a revenue drop worsened by the government’s continued international travel ban. The Namibian newspaper reported the airline had slashed wages for three months from September to November for cabin crew, pilots and ground staff who were furloughed since Namibia introduced a COVID-19 lockdown in March. However, pilots and cabin crew working on domestic routes, and airline management, were exempted, it said. In a letter quoted by Reuters, Air Namibia Acting Chief Executive Theo Mberirua said only 57% of the airline’s workforce had been working during the past six months. He said Air Namibia would reduce salaries by 50% until such time that regular operations resumed. Mberirua said a plan to restart operations was heavily impacted by a lack of funds to pay critical creditors and salaries. “The financial losses incurred by the airline over the previous five financial years have left (it) in a state requiring immediate intervention on all fronts,” he said, adding that fixed cost (including aircraft leases, maintenance cost, salaries, and fuel) far exceeded the revenue generated over the same period. This negatively affected the cash flow of the airline, “to the extent that continued domestic operations were jeopardised,” he said. An Air Namibia spokesperson declined to immediately respond to the wage cuts. However, while scheduled international flights were not yet confirmed, the airline on October 6 and 9 would operate charter flights between Windhoek Int’l and Johannesburg O.R. Tambo, the return legs of which were open to commercial bookings, spokesperson Twaku Kayofa told ch-aviation. Air Namibia’s Windhoek Eros to Walvis Bay flights were scheduled to restart on October 7. The airline currently operates only three out of six domestic routes (Eros to Ondangwa, Caprivi, and Rundu) following the restart of domestic operations on September 20, 2020. Windhoek’s Hosea Kutako International Airport opened on September 1, 2020, resulting in the return of Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa) and Eurowings (EW, Düsseldorf Int’l), with Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int’l) resuming flights on October 15. Namibian Cabin Crew Union president, Reginald Kock, said the union had not agreed to the salary cuts and accused management of not clearly explaining the reasons for the decision. Air Namibia employs 800 staff and needs about NAD8 billion Namibian dollars (USD485.6 million) to stay afloat, but the government reportedly can only afford a NAD193 million (USD11.6 million) bailout.