Just before Air Namibia resumed services to South Africa, Iata announced that the airline had been suspended from the Iata Settlement Systems. Agents received the notification from Iata on Tuesday afternoon, just before the airline’s Johannesburg and Cape Town flights resumed on Wednesday (October 28).
According to Iata, the airline’s suspension comes after it failed to pay outstanding amounts due.
The airline informed agents that while its flights were not bookable on BSP, it was operating domestically and regionally, and tickets were bookable on its website and B2B system.
Air Namibia has codeshares with SAA and British Airways but neither SAA nor Comair are currently operating.
Asata ceo Otto de Vries told Travel News that the association was advising agents to “proceed with caution”. He explained that the suspension from BSP was an indication of the airline not being able to meet its financial obligations and that the suspension placed the airline in a “high-risk” category.
“We would caution our agents to proceed carefully in terms of how they decide to book going forward,” he said, emphasising the importance of agents communicating the situation carefully to their customers.
He suggested that, should a customer choose to book with Air Namibia, agents should ensure that they were protected in writing so that they were not held liable in the event that bookings were not honoured and should the customer’s money be lost.
Both FlyWestair and Airlink are operating services between SA and Namibia. FlyWestair is not bookable on the GDS, although its website has an agent portal. Airlink flights are bookable on the GDS under the 4Z code as well as on Airlink’s website.
