Namibian aircraft lessor Wings Aviation Services has acquired two ex-Air Namibia E135s, the liquidators have confirmed to the Namibian Sun, but there appears to be bad blood from bidders who lost out on the sale.
According to ch-aviation research, Wings Aviation Services (Proprietary) Limited has been registered in Namibia (then South West Africa) since March 5, 1957. Two of its directors, Wolfgang Grellmann and Gustav Holz, are also the founder/chairman and group managing director, respectively, of the WestAir Group, a 40% shareholder of FlyNamibia (WV, Windhoek Eros).
Grellman and Holz confirmed to the Namibian Sun that Wings Aviation Services had purchased the jets but said they could not immediately be put into service as they were not airworthy. They had stood for more than three years and needed complete refurbishment and heavy maintenance. Once repaired, they would be leased out to clients, the list of which included FlyNamibia.
“Wings Aviation Services is a 100% Namibian-owned aircraft leasing company. It holds a number of aircraft that [are] being leased to airlines and aviation operators across the African continent,” Grellmann and Holz said.
FlyNamibia Chief Executive Officer Andre Compion said there was no equity share between Wings Aviation Services and FlyNamibia, whose other shareholders include Airlink (South Africa) (4Z, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) (40%), Namibian lawyer Philip Ellis (10%) and Compion (10%).
“If we should lease the aircraft from Wings Aviation [Services], it will be at a commercially viable rate to both parties, as we would negotiate with any other lessor,” Compion said.
According to the ch-aviation fleets ownership module, Air Namibia had four E135s, three of which are stored at Windhoek Eros, Namibia, and one at Durban King Shaka, South Africa.
Meanwhile, two companies that lost out on the purchase, named as Progress Aviation and AB Airlines, reportedly have lodged a complaint against Air Namibia’s liquidators Bruni and McLaren with Namibian Finance and Public Enterprises Minister Iipumbu Shiimi. In a letter late last year, they claimed the liquidators refused to view their bids for the two E135s.
