Ester Mbathera.
Discovery Airlines CEO, Bern Bauer expressed confidence in the ground handling services provided by Paragon Aviation Services.
Discovery Airlines, a Lufthansa Group leisure airline, is one of the airlines that put an embargo on cargo at Hosea Kutako International Airport when the High Court ruled that Menzies Aviation should cease operations at the airport last year.
At the time, the airline, which has been operating flights between Frankfurt and Namibia since 2022, rerouted its flights to Johannesburg.
One of the reasons for this was that Paragon Aviation did not have the ACC3/RA3 certification necessary for dealing with European-bound exports.
“Paragon is our handling agent at the airport, and they have boosted operations in the last nine months. It was a little bit bumpy in the beginning, but now we have smooth operations at the airport,” he said.
He explained that the company supports its partners all over the world in order to meet European standards.
“We have guidelines in all the countries we operate in, and we support our partners and help them implement those guidelines. We also have audits that can secure the quality of services offered by our partners. This is not unique to Namibia or Paragon; it is a standard method of organizing our operations. We have very clear safety requirements that have to be met, and we cannot compromise on that,” he said.
Bauer also announced that as of April 1, 2025, they will have additional flights from Munich to Windhoek.
The airline will introduce three weekly flights from this destination.
Bauer expressed confidence that Namibia’s new visa regime will not harm the local tourism industry.
He noted that Namibia is not the only country requiring visas for tourists.
“If it’s easy to obtain a visa and cheap, then nothing will change much. If it’s an expensive and bureaucratic process, then it could be a challenge. At the moment, it is not clear how it will be implemented or the impact it will have. We have yet to see it. For us, what is important is as few or no hurdles as possible,” said Bauer.
Paragon’s business development executive director, Desmond Amunyela, explains that when his company took over the ground handling operations at the international airport, they prioritised adhering to basic industry practices of On Time Performance(OTP) under safe and secure environment
Amunyela emphasises that the company’s immediate and continued focus is on transforming the ground support services at HKIA.
“Hosea Kutako Airport was rated as one of the best and most efficient airports in Africa, but we lost that status over the years. I don’t know if it was because of the previous operators or a combination of different factors. Among our achievable goals is to bring back that status to the airport,” he said.
Amunyela, who spends most of his time at the airport, says that with Paragon’s takeover of ground handling operations, things have been smooth because decisions are made on the spot.
“Once something is not okay, there is no debate about it, and decisions don’t have to be made in another country. There is no bureaucratic process in our operations. We have also strengthened the security and safety elements,” he said.
Last year, Paragon Aviation was also ranked as one of the top three best operators by Discovery Airlines, after the United States and Canada operations.
Windhoek Observer understands that Namibia’s grading could be much higher, but this is hindered by the fact that airport security is handled by the Namibian Police, which cannot be audited by a private airline.
