Eurowings Discover, a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, has upped its weekly flights between Frankfurt and Windhoek from seven to ten and reintroduced flights to Victoria Falls from the end of March.

According to a global spokesperson for the group, the long-haul leisure airline is now offering three weekly direct connections using an Airbus A330, departing Frankfurt on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, to Victoria Falls with a short stopover in Windhoek, with return flights operating on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Eurowings has fifth freedom rights, which allow it to carry passengers from Namibia to Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe to Namibia.

KMIA route suspended

The Frankfurt-based spokesperson further confirmed to Tourism Update that it had suspended flights to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) in Mbombela, until further notice

“The demand announced by the market has unfortunately not materialised,” she said.    

Eurowings launched the three times weekly service in November 2022 and had planned to make it a year-round service from August 2022. The airline had been the first intercontinental airline to start scheduled operations to the Kruger National Park.

While the route was welcomed with much fanfare at the time, some Tourism Update readers expressed concern about the extra travel time due to the stopover in Windhoek.

Owner of the Suitehotel Zum Latschen in Germany, Clemens Gjertsen, said in a comment: “As I live in Germany, this is a welcome addition to the existing possibilities to fly to SA (and the Kruger area in particular). A pity is that – at least for now – the stop at Windhoek results in extra travel time (about 3.5 to 4 hours).

He noted that a nonstop service would be the best as the next step. “Especially when travellers do not live in the Frankfurt-area and have to take feeder flights to/from Frankfurt before departing/after arrival. That makes the total travel time longer than a direct (or nonstop) flight promises.”