■ NAMIBIA: Government mulls closer cooperation with China; Tianjin flights for Air Namibia?

Namibia's Minister for Trade & Industry, Calle Schlettwein, says his government is considering cooperating with the Chinese aviation sector, with Tianjin in northern China, a potential new destination for the state-backed national carrier, Air Namibia (SW).

Tianjin metropolis (Alexander Needham)

According to The Namibian newspaper, Mr Schlettwein's remarks come on the back of a recent governmental visit to China in which officials were taken to Tianjin to visit the city's sprawling Tianjin Export Processing Zone, home to China Aviation Industry Corporation's (AVIC) Avicopter manufacturing unit.

“Tianjin has a large airport, and there are good possibilities of how the Namibian airline (Air Namibia) can link up with Chinese airlines or airports, through which we can give effect to this initial status that we have already received from the Chinese Government of being a preferred tourist destination,” he said.

Air Namibia itself has yet to announce any plans to launch services to the Far East, preferring instead to focus its long haul operations on Frankfurt, Germany.