12 Facts About Air Botswana

Air Botswana Corporation is Botswana's state-owned national flag carrier, with its headquarters located in Gaborone.

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.

Air Botswana Holdings was responsible for the ownership and leasing of aircraft, and served as the holding company for Air Botswana.

On 1 April 1988, Air Botswana was absorbed by the Botswana government as a parastatal corporation under the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications as a result of the Air Botswana Act, and became the nation's flag carrier.

Also in April 1988, Air Botswana became the first airline from the Southern African Development Coordination Conference to establish air links with Namibia.

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Air Botswana operations are regulated by the Department of Civil Aviation under the Civil Aviation Act.

In December 1992, the government enacted the Control of Smoking Act, 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.

Airline had been regularly posting financial losses, which 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 privatised.

Air Botswana Mauritius withdrew from the process in September 2003, citing the downturn in global air travel markets since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City.

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.

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.

In November 2019, the EastAfrican newspaper reported that Air Botswana was in the process of cutting its staff numbers from 450 to 210 people.