Qatar Airways’ return to the tourist-driven destination of Namibia comes soon after inaugurating Kano (KAN) and Port Harcourt (PHC) in Nigeria.
Might Gaborone, in Botswana, also return this year? In 2021, Hendrik Du Preez, Qatar Airways’ Vice-President for Africa, said it would be likely. He also said Windhoek was probable, and it is happening.
What’s happening?
Qatar Airways will reintroduce Windhoek on June 25th. There will be 3x weekly flights using 254-seat B787-8s, the carrier’s aircraft of choice for Africa, with 22 business seats and 232 in economy. Windhoek’s schedule is as follows, with all times local. It is, as always, designed for connectivity:
- Doha-Windhoek: QR1373, 01:45-09:50
- Windhoek-Doha: QR1374, 13:20-23:00
Qatar Airways launched Namibia in September 2016 and it remained until 2020. It variously used A330-200s and B787-8s and has always been a terminator service: it didn’t go anywhere else. According to OAG, it started at 4x weekly and gradually rose to 1x daily by the peak of 2018. However, this was excessive, and it reduced to 5x weekly the next summer.
In 2019, Qatar Airways carried more Windhoek passengers to/from Germany than any other country. That’s not surprising: Namibia was a German colony and far more Germans visit than any other European nationality. Eurowings Discover will serve Windhoek 1x daily from Frankfurt this year.
However, booking data shows that Paris CDG was Qatar’s largest origin and destination in 2019, followed by Zurich, Frankfurt, Munich, Milan Malpensa, Helsinki, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, Moscow Domodedovo, Brussels, and Geneva. Over seven in ten Windhoek passengers transferred over Doha.
Windhoek joined Qatar Airways’ network in September 2016, with this image taken on the first day of service. Photo: via Qatar Airways.
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An enormous focus on Africa
It’s hard to comprehend…