Air Botswana
| |||||||
Founded | 1972 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Parent company | Government of Botswana | ||||||
Headquarters | Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, Gaborone, Botswana | ||||||
Key people | Agnes Khunwana (Acting General Manager) | ||||||
Website | airbotswana |
Air Botswana Corporation is Botswana's state-owned national flag carrier, with its headquarters located in Gaborone.[5] It operates scheduled domestic and regional flights from its main base at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport.[6] Air Botswana has been loss-making for several years, and there have been various attempts to privatise the company, and frequent changes to the corporation's management and board, so far without reducing the losses.[7]
History
Formative years (1972–1986)
Air Botswana (Pty.) Limited was founded on the 2nd of July 1972 to succeed two failed former
Flight operations began on 1 August 1972 utilising the only aircraft of the company: a
The contract with Air Services Botswana for operation of the airline was not renewed, and in 1981
Government corporation
On 1 April 1988, Air Botswana was absorbed by the
Two
In December 1992, the government enacted the Control of Smoking Act (1992), and Air Botswana became the first company in Botswana to respond to the act by banning smoking on all domestic flights in 1993, which was later extended to all flights in the Southern African Development Community region in 1995.[14] Whilst the years 1988 to 1993 saw Air Botswana incurring financial losses, in 1994 the government wrote off P74 million of the airline's losses and converted them into equity.[12]
Destruction of fleet (1999)
On 11 October 1999, the airline was crippled when one of its pilots, Chris Phatswe,
After the aircraft circled Gaborone for two hours, Phatswe crashed it at a speed of 200 knots (370 km/h) into the airline's two other ATR 42s, which were parked on the apron, destroying all three aircraft.
Privatisation attempts
Because the airline had been regularly posting financial losses, which was in part is due to overstaffing, the operation of an ageing, fuel-inefficient fleet, increasing operational costs, inadequate management expertise and an inability to retain and attract qualified pilots, the government earmarked Air Botswana to be the first of the parastatals to be
The privatisation process began on 19 April 2000, when the government signed a consultancy agreement with World Bank-affiliated International Finance Corporation, which saw IFC being appointed as the government's main adviser in the privatisation process.[22]
In 2003, the government attempted to privatise the airline, with
Following a P300 million loss in the first quarter of 2006, the
It was revealed by the press that Nico Czypionka, the man responsible for leading negotiations between the government and Airlink, had convinced the government as early as April 2006 to go into partnership with the South African airline. It was alleged that the deal with Airlink was a foregone conclusion from the beginning of the process, and that other airlines had been invited to submit bids to create and illusion of fair and equitable processes. The
As part of the proposed deal with
The Government ceased negotiations with Airlink in October 2007, when the Cabinet reached a decision that the deal was no longer viable. A major sticking point, according to
The government then began the search for a management company to operate the company for a three-year period,
According to press reports in August 2008, Alexander Lebedev, a Russian oligarch, expressed interest in investing in the airline, and the Ministry of Works and Transport confirmed that Lebedev was invited to travel to Gaborone to present his bid to the government.[41] Part of the bid reportedly included extending Air Botswana's route network to Düsseldorf Airport; the base of Blue Wings which is 48% owned by Lebedev's National Reserve Corporation.[42] At the end of 2008, it was reported that Lebedev had abandoned plans for investment in Air Botswana.[43]
Recent history
In December 2008, Air Botswana signed a deal with ATR for two 68-seat ATR 72–500 regional airliners worth US$37 million. The aircraft were delivered in March 2009, and it was announced that routes linking Kasane and Francistown with Johannesburg would be restarted. The aircraft were delivered at the time of Air Botswana facing increased competition from South African Airways which had re-entered the Johannesburg-Gaborone market.[44][45][46] In July 2009, Air Botswana signed a codeshare agreement with Kenya Airways, which began flights to Gaborone on 6 September with three flights per week.[47][48]
The airline left the
In December 2012, Nyoni-Reiling resigned, and press reports in May 2013 indicated internal conflicts and that two directors had been suspended for gross mismanagement pending investigations.[51]
In late 2015, Tshenolo Mabeo the, Minister responsible for Transport, sacked the then General Manager Ben Dahwa together with his entire board of directors, following allegations of corruption. General Tebogo Carter Masire, former Botswana Defence Force (BDF) Commander, was appointed in February 2016 to lead Air Botswana as board chairman, replacing Nigel Dixon-Warren.[52]
In November 2019, the
Corporate affairs
Ownership
Despite various initiatives to privatise the airline, in whole or in part, Air Botswana remains 100% owned by the Government of Botswana.
Business trends
Air Botswana has been consistently loss-making for many years. Although the airline is government owned, full annual reports do not appear to be published. Financial results (for years ending 31 March) are published by the Auditor General, and other data in AFRAA reports, as below:
2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Turnover (P Million) | 202.6 | 232.5 | 219.6 | 246.2 | 278.6 | 389.1 | 406.2* | 417.4* | 338.8* | ||
*Includes a government grant (amount shown if known)(P Million) | 63.4 | ||||||||||
Net profit (P Million) | 17.5 | −87.0 | −45.1 | −54.2 | −47.1 | −75.8 | −100.0 | −165.0 | −86.1 | −12.4 | −42.1 |
Number of employees | 250 | 567 | 522 | 385 | 414 | ||||||
Number of passengers (000s) | 265 | 254 | 224 | 253 | |||||||
Passenger load factor (%) | 59 | 62 | 69 | ||||||||
Number of aircraft (at year end) | 9 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | |||||
Notes/sources | [54][55] | [56] | [57] | [58][59] | [58] | [60][61] | [62][63] [64] |
[65][66] [67] |
[67][68] |
Destinations
As of June 2019[update], Air Botswana operated scheduled passenger flights to the following destinations:[4][69]
Air Botswana has codeshares with the following airlines:
Fleet
Current fleet
As of August 2019[update], the Air Botswana fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[1][2][3][81]
Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | Y | Total | ||||
ATR 42-500
|
1 | — | — | 47 | 47 | Currently not operational
(standby aircraft) |
ATR 72-600
|
2 | — | — | 70 | 70 | |
Embraer E170 | 1 | —[82] | — | 70 | 70 | |
Total | 4 | 3 |
References
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{{cite book}}
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- ^ "Destinations". Archived from the original on 19 February 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
- ^ Air Botswana. "Francistown". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
- ^ Air Botswana. "Gaborone". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
- ^ Air Botswana. "Kasane". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
- ^ Air Botswana. "Maun". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
- ^ Air Botswana. "Cape Town". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ Air Botswana. "Johannesburg". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
- ^ align=center africandailyvoice. "air-botswana". Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
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- ^ "In Aviation 🌍 في الطيران on Instagram: "إير بوتسوانا تشتري طائرتي من طراز E170 من #ارامكو السعودية . AirBotswana acquire 2 #E170 from SaudiAramco . Repost @_esteban_mendoza_…"". Instagram. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021.
External links
- https://www.alternativeairlines.com/air-botswana
- https://www.hatab.bw/index.php/members-listings/air-charter-airlines/19-members/air-charter-airline-sector/210-air-botswana.html
abc.com
External links
- Official website
- "Air Botswana Act (1988)" (PDF). Retrieved 3 January 2017.[dead link]