Review: Air Namibia A319 Economy Class Cape Town to Windhoek via Walvis Bay
South America/Africa/Europe Review Series:
- United Polaris 767-300 New Polaris Washington to Sao Paulo
- South African Airways A330-200 Business Class Sao Paulo to Johannesburg
- Kulula Boeing 737-800 Economy Class Johannesburg to Cape Town
- Air Namibia Airbus A319 Economy Class Cape Town to Windhoek via Walvis Bay
- South African Airways Airbus A320 Economy Class Windhoek to Johannesburg
- South African Airways Airbus A330-300 Business Class Johannesburg to Accra
- KLM Boeing 777-300ER Economy Comfort Accra to Amsterdam
- Aer Lingus Airbus A330-200 Business Class Dublin to Washington
The Flight At A Glance:
| Aircraft: | Airbus A319 |
| Origin: | Cape Town International Airport |
| Destination: | Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport |
| Flight Time: | 3h 5m (1 stop) |
| Date: | June 29, 2019 |
| Class of Service: | Economy Class |
| Airline: | Air Namibia |
| Flight Rating | 65/100 |
| Flight Number: | NMB714 |
| Seat Number: | 9A |
| Time of Departure: | 4:15 PM SAST |
| Time of Arrival: | 7:20 PM SAST |
| Departure Terminal: | International Terminal |
| Aircraft Tail Number: | VS-ANN |
Introduction
Originally, on the trip that my parents and I were taking, we had the goal of flying from Cape Town to Accra. After doing some research, I found that the cheapest way to get between the two places was on Air Namibia. Naturally, we then decided to spend a couple of days in Windhoek, if we were transiting through there anyways. We originally were booked on two separate tickets: one from Cape Town to Windhoek and the other from Windhoek to Accra via Lagos a couple of days later. Unfortunately, Air Namibia then got into some financial trouble, temporarily lost half of their 10 plane fleet, and was forced to cancel their flights to Lagos and Accra and suspended two out of their three daily flights to Cape Town.
We then scrambled to find another flight from Windhoek to Accra (as we were set on going to Namibia) and booked a ticket on South African Airways via Johannesburg. Air Namibia now has resumed their extra daily flights to Cape Town and has gained control of the rest of their fleet, but still hasn’t restarted their route to Accra and Lagos. Just for reference, in case you didn’t know, Air Namibia is an airline based in Namibia (obviously) that operates a fleet of 10 aircraft, including A319s, E135s, and two Airbus A330-200s which it flies to Frankfurt on a daily basis.
Pre-Flight
We arrived at the airport about three hours before our scheduled departure at 1:50. Unfortunately, the check-in desk didn’t open until two hours before the flight at about 11:45, so I ended up having to wait in the check-in area for almost an hour. Luckily, I then saw signs for an “observation deck,” which was more like an observation window, where you could get a pretty good view of the terminal. I have to say that I actually quite enjoyed Cape Town Airport as it was modern and airy (more so than Johannesburg Airport). Afterward, the check-in area already itself said that the flight was delayed and would be departing at 2:45 pm due to a late inbound aircraft. I tracked the inbound aircraft on Flightradar24, and it seemed to be on-time (the inbound aircraft also flew via Walvis Bay). I would later find out onboard why the plane seemed to be on-time but really arrived two and a half hours late.
After dropping our bag off, we headed through security. What’s interesting is that at Cape Town Airport, the security for the international section is right by the main terminal entrance. Then, to get to outgoing immigration, you have to walk down a very long corridor which brought us to the international end of the terminal. After virtually no lines in both immigration and security, I was brought to the rather small international section. We weren’t traveling in business class, so lounge access wasn’t available for us. The terminal was very airy, although portions of it almost felt like a wearhouse.
There are two concourses in the international terminal: Concourse A and Concourse B. Technically, Concourse A stands for all of the actual gates – there are actually A gates in both the international and domestic terminal. What I found interesting is that there was clearly meant to be an area for A1 and A2 at the very end of the terminal, but in their place was just more seating – the only real gates in the international terminal were A3-A6; A1 and A2 just didn’t exist. Then, there was a smaller section downstairs which was where the B gates were, which was also where our flight departed from. I then walked up and down the small international terminal before eating lunch at a restaurant. Afterwords, after checking the flight departure board, it the flight time kept being pushed back: 3:00, then 3:30, then finally the final departure time of 4:00.
At about 3:00, I headed downstairs to Terminal B, which was my flight on Air Namibia was departing from. Terminal B is located below Terminal A at the very end of the concourse. It has six bus gates which are located right next to each other. At about 3:25, boarding began rather hectically. There weren’t really any formal announcements and there wasn’t really an organized line or a separate premium section, but rather they just started checking boarding passes for whoever just was standing around the gate area. We were then directed into a bus, which must have stood there by the gate for 15 minutes before leaving. Finally, at about 3:45, the first bus drove to the aircraft, parked midfield on the apron.
Since we were boarding remotely, I was able to be among the first to board, despite being in economy class. Business class on Air Namibia’s A319s actually looked really nice. The cabin had recliner seats, each of which had a ton of legroom (meaning that they probably reclined quite a bit), leg rests, and foot rests. The cabin had 16 seats, which is twice the size of American’s A319 first class cabin, and given the large footprint each seat took up (given the legroom), the business class cabin made up for almost half the aircraft!
There were only 96 seats in economy class, making it one of the smallest economy class cabins on an A320 series aircraft. I was seated in the first row, which had a bulkhead in front of it (I would have preferred it had there been no hard divider). The seats were comfortable and well-padded as they weren’t slimline seats. The seats also reclined a fair amount (I usually don’t recline in regular economy class on short flights, but no one was seated behind me) However, what did bother me was that the seats didn’t have headrests. The seats didn’t have any personal in-flight entertainment screens, although there were overhead screens, which I’ll talk more about later. The cabin seemed to be in pretty good condition as it was pretty clean and well maintained. Because I had bulkhead, there was a bit more legroom than the rest of the cabin and also had the benefit of no one reclining into me. There also were remote controls in the side of the seat to control the sound for the overhead screens – there also were some music channels that you could listen to.
At about 4:15, we pushed back from the stand. The flight was operating via Walvis Bay, so some people would get off there, and some would get on to go to Windhoek (making this one of the few flights in the world that is both a domestic and international flight at the same time – I’ll explain this later). At that point, the captain said that it would be approximately 2 hours in the air to Walvis Bay, and then 30 minutes to Windhoek. He also explained that the reason why the flight was late was because the inbound flight from Windhoek to Walvis Bay couldn’t land in Walvis Bay due to fog. Therefore, it had to turn around, go back to Windhoek, take off again to Walvis Bay, refuel, reload, unload passengers, and take some passengers on, and then go to Cape Town. So I guess the captain and crew had a long day. We then taxied to runway 34 (the shorter one) and then took off.
About 20 minutes after takeoff, the crew came around with the first drink service. Since Air Namibia is a full-service carrier, they give out free drinks and meals on the flight. After the drink service, they came around again with meal service. The (friendly) flight attendant said that we could either have beef, chicken, or fish. I personally selected the beef. It seemed to be some local type of dish, but it was not executed well. The beef came with peas, yellow rice, and some type of beef (more of a beef chili) which was under some bread-type product (or something). The rice was okay, but the beef was disgusting. My parents both got the chicken, which they said was okay. Also on the tray was a packaged white bread roll (which was okay), some crackers with cheese, a side salad, and an apple tart thingy. The apple cake dessert was actually pretty good for economy class. Overall, at least I can say that the meal was free, but it was overall pretty average for economy class food.
For the first half hour of the flight, the overhead screens had the airshow on; I thought that they would have it on for the entirety of the flight. However, about a half hour into the flight, they started playing a few 20 minute sitcoms, which was much appreciated. That continued for about an hour, at which point, they turned the screens off.
At that point, I visited the lavatory, which was pretty basic, but also seemed to be pretty well maintained.
At that point, the crew came around with landing cards for Namibia. About fifteen passengers would be disembarking at Walvis Bay, while the rest would stay on until Windhoek. The captain then announced that there was some heavy fog in Walvis Bay, so we might have to divert to Windhoek. I was really hoping that would be the case, so we could get into Windhoek a bit earlier. However, it turned out that the fog wasn’t too bad, and we could land in Walvis Bay. I have to say, with the airstrip in almost the middle of
At that point, about 15 passengers got off and another 20 or so got on. Those passengers that we picked up would continue on domestically to Windhoek. With the Walvis Bay passengers arriving in Windhoek domestically and the Cape Town originating passengers arriving in Windhoek internationally, the flight would technically have both international and domestic passengers on board at the same time, which is pretty rare. Well, it turns out that there is only one arrivals area at Windhoek Airport. The main lane there was for international arrivals, but then there was another lane for domestically arriving passengers – they must have gotten a pass or something when flying only the domestic leg that they would show to the immigration officer while not having to clear immigration. I guess that’s how they make a simultaneously domestic and international flight work.
After about 30 minutes on the ground where passengers could stretch their legs, we taxied to the runway. I found it interesting that since there was not much wind, we simply took off in the opposite direction that we landed in as that was the direction that Windhoek was.
There was no service of any kind on this segment of the flight – I was a bit surprised that they didn’t come around for second drink service. The 30 minute second and final segment was very uneventful – just a short climb and descent over the Namib Desert. The most interesting part of this flight was the pretty sunset over Namibia.
Without really any lights or any buildings out by Windhoek Airport (the international airport is very far out of town), there was really no way that I as the passenger could know how far up we were. So it was kind of a surprise when we actually touched down on the runway, with nothing outside that could tell me how close we got to the airport. After a soft landing, it was only a three minute taxi to the hard stand (there are no jetways at Windhoek Airport). After that, it was about a five minute walk to the main terminal as they also don’t have any busses at the airport. I was scolded by an officer for taking a picture of the plane, possibly because it was parked right by the government terminal (which looks about 2 or less years old, while the main terminal looks about 20). We then cleared immigration in about five minutes and then headed to the baggage claim, where it took about 15 minutes for our bag to come out.
Conclusion
I wouldn’t say that I had an awful experience on Air Namibia, but I wouldn’t say that I had a great one either. The flight was delayed a few hours, but I really can’t blame Air Namibia as it was the weather’s fault, not theirs. On the flight, the flight attendants were nice and did seem to care about their jobs, but did seem to be a bit annoyed with the delays. The seats were comfortable enough and at least they did play some TV on the overhead monitors, although personal device entertainment and WiFi would have been preferred. Again, at least they did serve food, but it was pretty awful. The flight was also very inexpensive, so I guess a full meal (even if it it is bad) and mediocre entertainment for a short-haul flight is acceptable. Overall, Air Namibia is a decent way to travel to and from Namibia, and I do hope that they stay in business after all the financial trouble they’ve been in.
Have you ever flown on Air Namibia? How did you experience compare?
