Air Namibia has been handed a reprieve by a court and will be allowed to continue operating commercial flights temporarily.
The airline said on Thursday that the Namibian High Court had suspended the cancellation of its air licence, a big boost for the national carrier that was to ground all its planes on Wednesday midnight.
According to Reuters, the cash-strapped airline which operates 10 aircraft and has close to 800 staff, requires around 8 billion Namibian dollars ($469 million) to stay afloat, but only received a tenth of that in last month’s budget.
“The suspension of Air Namibia’s service licence has been upended by the High Court. Air Namibia shall continue to fly all domestic flights as per published schedule,” Reuters quotes the airline.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Aug. 3.
The airline has failed to file financial results for a number of years and is heavily reliant on government bailouts. It also faces possible liquidation after a European creditor, to which it owes 2.3 million euros ($13.9 million), took a motion to court.
An Air Namibia board member, who declined to be named, told Reuters it would be more expensive to liquidate Air Namibia than to keep it as a going concern.
