Is Walvis Bay Airport in Serious Need of Money?

I felt robbed and treated like a criminal at Walvis Bay Airport on 30 March 2026! Driving from Swakop, taking friends to this airport can unexpectedly turn into a sour experience that no law-abiding local citizen deserves.

While contemplating this scenario I can’t help wondering if this a way of “catching” people unaware of the “real rules” at the Drop Off parking zone to help finance the airport. On receiving my ticket at the entrance of the quite empty parking lot, my friends suggested I just do a quick five minute drop off. A first for me. They unloaded their luggage, we said a few words to each other, greeted, and off they went, into the airport building. I immediately got in my car and drove off to the exit boom pay station. While still seated in my car I tried to insert my ticket into the pay station slot. After I tried a few times, while also trying to read the sunlit screen on top, but the boom stayed closed. I had to get out of my car to look closely at the information on the screen, which stated “scan the ticket”. After trying to scan a few times, another lady stopped behind me, and tried to help, but to no avail. The boom stayed closed. I called a guard, who told me in a very unprofessional way that I have overstayed my five minutes at the Drop Off. I don’t wear a watch but thought this could not be true. The guard told me I had to go inside the building and pay N$ 250 penalty before I could get out of that parking lot. I was informed that the “five minute” timing started at the entrance of the parking lot and expires at the moment the ticket was scanned at the exit station. To my surprise I learned that the “five minute drop off zone” was not only for actual drop off, but included all the driving time, from the entrance to the exit, only at the time the scan was done. In short, after having to deal with three persons of which one, a certain Mr. Kennedy stated “how can I believe you?” when I told him that the screen was unreadable with full sun shining on it, and about my wasting of time trying to enter the ticket in the slot, he forbid me to leave the premises if I did not first pay N$ 250. While I was not involved in any criminal activity, I insisted on proof that I overstayed my five minutes, which at first no one would provide. Later they checked the security camera’s footage to see my “scanning time” at the exit, which was of course more than five minutes (with seconds), after all the trouble I had. With a heavy heart I paid the fine, not because of the money, but I had to rethink my ignorance when I wondered why it only made sense to me that the “five minutes” counted for while being stationary in the parking? How many people are caught unaware of this? On my request that Mr. Kennedy see to it that a proper information notice be placed up at the entrance to clearly state that the five minutes’ count-down starts from entering-to-exit-scanning at the parking lot, he replied that it is not possible to put up “so many” notices. I spoke to Samantha at the airport and she confirmed that this kind of query with unhappy customers happens often. I also spoke to another person waiting to pay at enquiries and asked him how he understood the “five minute drop off” rule. He also reckoned that it was while being parked and did not realise it included driving time. I suggested they rethink their system, but Mr Kennedy does not see a problem with it. Let me just state that this “five minute drop off” took me one hour and fifteen minutes before I was able to exit the airport. I hope this information helps others not to be caught as off guard as I was.

P. Byleveld