Air Botswana is reportedly in the process of reinstating the Francistown-Johannesburg, Johannesburg-Maun and Johannesburg-Kasane routes, all of which the state airline stopped running due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at a stakeholder’s engagement forum in Francistown last Thursday, Air Botswana commercial director, Boikanyo Ntwaagae said the new routes would be operationalised mid- year, if things go according to the plan. Ntwaagae explained that the airline was also negotiating to lease an aircraft to ensure seamless and undisputed service as well as to introduce more routes such as Gaborone-Windhoek, Francistown-Bulawayo, Durban-Nairobi as well as key tourism markets of Frankfurt and USA through partnerships. He said the initiative would focus on value chain development for sustainability, growth and revenue diversification.
Ntwaagae said the expansion of the cargo business, property development, route diversification, ground handling, as well as training and maintenance opportunities are some of the initiatives earmarked for the flagship revenue diversification project. He indicated that the air cargo market was increasingly becoming lucrative across the globe, and they were, therefore, working on strengthening their market presence in the cargo space.
He said Air Botswana had also made efforts to have proper market representation in major cargo source markets, general sales and service agents, which were appointed in China, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, South Africa and Zambia.
On other issues, Ntwaagae said the airline developed a recovery and growth strategy for 2021/25, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the focus of the strategy is the airline’s operational excellence, recovery and growth, as well as financial sustainability. He noted Air Botswana was fully aware that it had not been adequately addressing the needs of the northern markets, particularly Francistown and its catchment areas.
“The pain points have been schedule disruptions as well as inadequate communication with affected passengers,” he added.
He said the root cause had been lack of communication or engagement with the market, resulting in sub-optimal demand for Air Botswana’s services, thereby rendering it not commercially viable.
Ntwaagae said the airline was in the process of renewing its commitment and pledging to fully service the northern market according to its needs in the most optimal and commercially sustainable manner. He stressed that Air Botswana remained committed to the highest operational standards and that safety remained a critical priority in every aspect of its operations.
He revealed that the airline sold all its nine old aircraft and replaced them with three new ones, with increased seating capacities, adding that it was also in the process of acquiring a new aircraft, through lease, to increase its fleet to four.
Source: BOPA
