October 10, 2019: Effective October 08, Air Namibia has appointed Werner Schuckmann as its new chief financial officer. He will report directly to the interim chief executive officer (CEO) Xavier Masule as well as to the chairperson of the audit and risk committee (ARC) of the board of directors.

Schuckmann brings a breadth of experience spanning a period of over 30 years of extensive financial experience, backed up by various executive roles gained from local and international spheres. He is a chartered accountant both in South Africa and Namibia. He holds a B.Com (Hons) in accounting as well as a B.Com from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Prior to this, Schuckmann held positions of CFO/financial director at various entities in the fishing, aviation and construction industries. From 2012 - 2017, he was the MD of the commercial and industrial division at Bidvest Namibia Commercial Holdings. Over the last two years, he consulted at various entities in Southern Africa as a strategy and management consultant. He also serves as a non-executive director on the board of Roads Contractor Company (RCC) and MTC Namibia.

His earlier positions include as a senior partner at PwC and KPMG, senior adviser at Bank Windhoek, Namibia Construction as CFO, and as an MD at Typepro Namibia.

Recently, Air Namibia has appointed Escher Luanda as the chairperson of Air Namibia board of directors following the resignations of the chairperson Dee Sauls- Deckenbrock and vice-chairperson Nangula Kauluma from its board of directors.

On the other hand, the liquidation of the Windhoek-headquartered carrier by the end of September was reported in the media. Further, Masule declared that there has been no official decision taken by the government or the board to close the national airline.