16 January 2025
Landlocked southern African country Botswana has become the latest African nation, to gather its air transport actors into one team with the launch of the Botswana Air Access project in August.
The Botswana team in Bahrain, which used the Routes platform to present its story, was led by Bao Mosinyi, CEO at the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB), who has spent most of his career in the US at Pratt & Whitney, Airbus and the FAA and studied at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Botswana Air Access is a new initiative led by CAAB in collaboration with a group of key Botswana stakeholders, namely the Botswana Tourism Organisation, the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre, Business Botswana, Travel Agent’s Association of Botswana and the Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana.
“Our view is that as Team Botswana, this is an opportunity to sell the country, it is not just about selling our airports,” said Bao.
The project has been established to promote increased air connectivity to Botswana by securing air route retention and expansion, and engage domestic, regional and international carriers.
“Airlines really appreciate business cases done together through this approach. The whole point is that Botswana is not very well connected,” said Bao.
The initial focus is to boost services to capital Gaborone, which is located in the south of Botswana near the border with South Africa, with new or increased direct connections to Europe, the Middle East and Asia at the top of Bao’s wish list.
Another priority is to gain certification for the airports in the northern cities of Kasane and Francistown to receive international flights, he noted.
Source: https://airlinergs.com/issue-article/botswana-banks-on-better-access/
