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Air Namibia not under liquidation says Shiimi

Air Namibia not under liquidation says Shiimi

Following speculation that Air Namibia is going to be liquidated, the Minister of Finance, Ipumbu Shiimi Thursday cleared the air and said that no such decision has been taken by Cabinet.

Shiimi in his capacity as Chairperson of the Cabinet Committee on Treasury said the airline will instead be restructured as government is currently assessing different options.

Shiimi noted that the national airline’s current model and new business plan is not sustainable nor affordable.

Currently, Air Namibia has a significant amount of debt which if leaseholds are not included, accounts to more than N$5 billion.

“This means for the new business plan to be implemented, taking the outstanding debt into account, an amount of over N$7 billion will have to be spent in the current financial year which makes it unaffordable as resources are needed for other priorities such as health, education, housing and sanitation during this difficult times,” Shiimi said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Treasury has consulted the Board of Air Namibia and Trade Union representatives of the staff of Air Namibia with a view to solicit their input on restructuring of the national airline. These consultations are ongoing and once concluded, a final decision in this regard will be taken.


 

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Donald Matthys

Donald Matthys has been part of the media fraternity since 2015. He has been working at the Namibia Economist for the past three years mainly covering business, tourism and agriculture. Donald occasionally refers to himself as a theatre maker and has staged two theatre plays so far. Follow him on twitter at @zuleitmatthys