Cape Town - African air travel is on the up and up, and a newly announced codeshare agreement between Turkish Airlines and Air Namibia serves as a reminder of the growing potential on the continent.
The agreement, signed on Monday, 6 February, will come into effect from 1 March 2017. It covers routes between Turkey and Namibia, and is "set to expand the travel opportunities for the passengers of the two airlines," Turkish Airlines says.
Under the terms of the agreement, Air Namibia and Turkish Airlines are planning to place codes on unilateral flights SW on Windhoek – Johannesburg (visa versa) and Windhoek – Frankfurt (visa versa), and unilateral flights of TK on Istanbul – Johannesburg (visa versa) and Istanbul – Frankfurt (visa versa).
Also it has been considered that, when SW introduces the Windhoek – Istanbul (and visa versa) flights in future, this codeshare agreement will be expanded by placing the code to include beyond Istanbul flights.
Namibia Deputy Minister of Works and Transport honorable Sankwasa James 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 says he is confident that the cooperation will be fruitful for both sides and will be enlarged very soon.
“Air Namibia is a small airline and in order to improve its competitiveness in this highly competitive industry, it is important to have a strategic partner, such as Turkish Airlines to partner with. We believe that this will be just one of the many areas of cooperation between Turkish Airlines and Air Namibia," he says.
Turkish Airlines has been investing heavily in expansion into Africa, and especially into South Africa.
On 30 January 2017, the capital of the Republic of Guinea, Conakry, became the 296th destination in 120 countries that will be served by Turkish Airlines.
South Africa, too, is enjoying the full attention and service from the airline, that now has year-round, daily direct flights from Cape Town and Johannesburg to Istanbul, and flights to Istanbul from Durban via Johannesburg five times a week.
The Namibia codeshare agreement is yet another expansion of the carrier’s African network which currently serves 51 destinations on the continent, more than any other international carrier.
Source: http://traveller24.news24.com/News/...ia-join-forces-to-open-africa-travel-20170207