Namibia transforms into business tourism hotspot amid oil and gas discoveries

Namibia’s oil and gas discoveries are reshaping its profile from a tourism hotspot to a business travel destination. TotalEnergies SE and Shell Plc have uncovered vast reserves, attracting oil majors and boosting high-end travel. Airlink expands flights, eyeing growth amidst regional oil and mining sectors, while considering fleet upgrades for future expansion.

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By Loni Prinsloo, Jennifer Zabasajja and Leen Al-Rashdan

Oil and gas discoveries in Namibia are transforming the nation into a high-end business travel destination from a tourist locale for a South African airline.

TotalEnergies SE and Shell Plc have found an estimated 11 billion barrels of oil reserves in Namibia, in what is touted as potentially the biggest-ever deep water find. The country, that is yet to produce crude or gas, has become an exploration hot spot for oil majors and their employees, according to SA Airlink Pty Ltd.

Sparsely populated Namibia — home to tourist attractions such as the Skeleton Coast and the Namib desert — has an estimated $1 trillion of crude that has oil firms making a beeline to the nation. The southern African nation is also courting investors in its attempt to become a green hydrogen production hub for Europe given that the region has some of the world’s best solar radiation.

“While Namibia is a great leisure destination, the discovery and now the commercialization of oil and gas, as well as green hydrogen, is transforming it into a business travel destination,” Airlink’s Chief Executive Officer Rodger Foster said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “A lot of our travel is high-end business travel that is not as sensitive, and not as commoditized as other airline travel.”

Airlink has added flights to Walvis Bay and Namibia’s capital Windhoek and now has 63 return trips a week to the neighboring country. The company acquired a 40% stake in FlyNamibia two years ago.

The carrier has seen similar business travel routes develop by people working in the oil and gas sector, and mines in the region such as Mozambique, Foster said.

Read more: 🔒 Namibia’s oil boom: Major discoveries spark exploration rush

The airline, which has been operating on the continent for 32 years, is considering expanding regionally. It will need to procure aircraft with about 180 seats “in due time,” for the plan, Foster said.

Airlink currently runs largely an Embraer fleet. It had partnered with South African Airways for many years, that had access to larger aircraft. That venture ended when the flag-carrier defaulted on certain agreements, and went into a business-rescue during the pandemic.

“If we want to grow the business where we are not that competent at the moment, we need to step up into larger aircraft for instance, and that would entail capital,” said Foster, without disclosing how the company plans to raise funding.

Airlink also has interline agreements with Qatar Airways and Emirates to provide passengers with connectivity through Cape Town and Johannesburg to additional destinations within southern Africa.

Qatar Airways plans to invest in an unidentified airline based in southern Africa, the carrier said in May. Foster declined to say if Airlink was the partner, adding that “we have those conversations but we do not any irrevocable binding agreement with any of our partners as we speak.”