No end in sight for Air Botswana woes
Isaac Pinielo | Wednesday June 3, 2015 18:00
Appearing before the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications Goitsemang Morekisi confirmed that the airline is experiencing a number of problems.
While the airline has been battling to stay afloat, it has been making losses each year, leading to the grounding of some flights.
Committee members had wanted to know the situation on the struggling airline and whether it should be considered bankrupt.
Although Morekisi could not state for a fact whether the airline is bankrupt or not, he said Air Botswana is getting support from government.
“I do not think Air Botswana is bankrupt since it is being assisted by government financially to stay afloat,” she said.
Morekisi added that the government has taken a decision to set aside funding to come up with a five-year turnaround plan, which came into effect in March this year.
The new strategy is expected to touch on the airline’s operations; that are rationalisation of route network and schedule, review of internal processes and procedures, use of technology to enhance delivery, fleet upgrade and equipment renewal.
According to Morekisi, a number of aircrafts in the airline’s fleet are very old and that out of a fleet of seven aircraft, only four have been grounded. This has also led to a number of pilots being grounded.
During the 2014-2015 financial year, the fleet went through heavy airframe maintenance checks including engine and landing gear maintenance. The permanent secretary revealed that the airline is currently dry-leasing an aircraft, which operates between the Gaborone-Johannesburg route. “This is the only profitable route for Air Botswana,” she said. Air Botswana currently flies to local and regional destinations in Southern Africa. Locally, the airline connects Gaborone with Francistown, Maun and Kasane with an additional route between Maun and Kasane.
Regionally the airline connects Johannesburg with Gaborone, Maun, Kasane and Francistown, and further links from Gaborone to Cape Town, Harare and Lusaka.
Previous attempts by government to privatise Air Botswana have since failed. Morekisi believes that the turnaround plan will be the one to bring back the airline into profitability. Air Botswana’s financial performance for the financial year ended March 31, 2014 has deteriorated year-on-year as it recorded a loss of P99.99 million, compared to P75.84 million in the previous year and P47.12 million the year before.
The airline’s revenue, including a government grant of P63.36 million, was P406.21 million, compared to P389.05 million in the previous year.