Air Botswana

Infobox Airline
airline=Air Botswana
logo=Air Botswana logo.svg
logo_size=250
fleet_size=6
destinations=9
IATA=BP
ICAO=BOT
callsign=BOTSWANA
parent=
founded=1972
headquarters=Gaborone
key_people=Lance Brogden (General Manager)
hubs=Sir Seretse Khama International Airport
focus_cities=
frequent_flyer=Teemane Club
lounge=
alliance=
website=http://www.airbotswana.co.bw

Air Botswana is the national airline of Botswana, based in Gaborone. It operates scheduled domestic and regional services, as well as charter services. Its main base is Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, GaboroneFlight International 27 March 2007] .

History

The airline was established and started operations in April 1972. It was formed to succeed Botswana Airways, which had replaced Botswana National Airways in 1969. It was taken over by the government in April 1988. Partial privatisation, originally expected in 2004, has been delayed. It is wholly owned by the Botswana government and has 314 employees (as of March 2007).

Incidents and accidents

On 11 October 1999, an Air Botswana captain, Chris Phatswe, boarded a parked ATR 42 aircraft (tail number: A2-ABB) at Khama International Airport in the early morning and took off. Once in the air, he asked by radio to speak to President Festus Mogae, Air Botswana's general manager, the station commander, the central Gaborone Police station and his girlfriend, among others. Because the president was out of the country, he was allowed to speak to Vice President Seretse Ian Khama. In spite of all attempts to persuade him to land and discuss his grievances, he stated he was going to commit suicide by crashing into some planes on the apron. After a total flying time of about two hours, mostly circling the airport, he did two loops and then crashed at 200 knots (230 mph) into Air Botswana's two other ATR 42s that were parked on the apron. Phatswe was killed but there were no other casualties. Airline sources say the pilot had been grounded on medical reasons, refused reinstatement and regrounded until February 2000. Air Botswana operations were crippled, as the airline temporarily had only a single aircraft left, a BAe-146, which was grounded at the time with technical problems. [ [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19991011-0 Air Botswana ATR crash] ]

Destinations

As of June 2008, Air Botswana operates scheduled passenger flights to the following destinations: [ [http://www.airbotswana.co.bw/flight.asp?page=Flight+Information Air Botswana timetable] ]

According to the aviation magazine AERO International, Air Botswana has problems with hiring enough people, resulting in the cancellation of several flights. [AERO International]

Fleet

The Air Botswana fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of December 2007) :

Previously operated

As of August 2006 the airline also operated [Flight International, 3-9 October 2006] :
*1 Raytheon Beech 1900D Airliner

In 2005 Air Botswana was to refurbish its fleet of ATR 42 aircraft. It had increased utilisation of its BAe 146 and wanted to lease another aircraft to expand its route network and capacity on key routes. Towards the end of 2005 a frequent flyer programme would be introduced and online booking an e-ticketing by the end of 2006. [Airliner World, September 2005)]

External links

* [http://www.airbotswana.co.bw/ Air Botswana]
* [http://www.airbotswana.co.uk/ Air Botswana UK]

References