Lufthansa Group is now able to offer tickets between two tourism centres in Southern Africa – Windhoek and Victoria Falls.
Dr André Schulz, Lufthansa GM Southern and East Africa, said on Thursday, April 14: “Today, I am particularly excited to inform you that Lufthansa Group has obtained fifth freedom rights, which enables our customers to purchase tickets on the regional tag flight between Windhoek-Victoria Falls-Windhoek, promoting regional tourism between Namibia and Zimbabwe.”
Fifth freedom rights allow an airline to carry revenue traffic between foreign countries as a part of services connecting the airline’s own country. It is the right to carry passengers from the airline’s own country to a second country, and passengers from that country onward to a third country. They are somewhat rare, especially in Africa, but are commonplace in Europe, which has a liberal open-skies environment, enabling the easy movement of goods and people between countries.
These flights are operated by Eurowings Discover, Lufthansa Group’s long-haul leisure airline. They may be booked via the GDS.
Round-trip fares from Windhoek start from NAD 4 560 (the Namibia Dollar is virtually at par with the rand), inclusive of taxes. Round-trip fares from Victoria Falls start from US$310 (R4 540), inclusive of taxes.
Dr Schulz added that thanks to positive booking trends and demand, the airline was increasing its capacity into the Namibian market by offering an additional three flights per week between Frankfurt and Windhoek from July to September, bringing the total number of seasonal frequencies on this route from daily flights to ten weekly flights.
