Air Botswana leaves passengers stranded
Mpho Mokwape | Friday November 28, 2014 17:52
The social media was awash with posts of passengers complaining that they were stranded in Maun and Kasane. In an interview with Mmegi, the Airline Commercial Director, Joe Motse confirmed that on Wednesday one of their aircraft in Gaborone experienced technical glitches that it had to be delayed.
Motse explained that the aircraft was to take off at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (SSKIA) and was destined for Maun when they realised that its bad weather detection was not working. “Initially the aircraft was delayed due to the problem but after it was fixed the flight had to be cancelled because rain started pouring and the weather was so bad that we had to cancel it,” he said.
Moreover Motse said technical glitches were also experienced in Maun when one of their Maun-Johannesburg aircraft had two of its tyres flapped out before take off.
He explained that the aircraft had to be delayed as another tyre had to be picked from Gaborone for replacement, adding that it was a fortunate situation that the aircraft’s tyres flapped out while it was still waiting for passengers.
Motse said that cancellation of flights was only meant for the safety of passengers, adding that after they noticed all the malfunctions the Air Botswana management explained the situation to its clients and assured their safety.
He however said that what they experienced on Wednesday was completely out of their control and that it was an unfortunate situation that they would try hard to avoid in future.
He assured the airline’s clients that all is well and back to normal and that all flights that were cancelled have resumed duty.
“All flights that were cancelled had to be carried out the following day and those inconvenienced by the situation did understand that it was meant to ensure their safety.