Air Botswana on steady recovery � GM
Isaac Pinielo | Friday July 17, 2015 13:05
OTP is the primary internationally accepted standard to measure airline’s operational efficiency.
“Our OTP is a measure of our relevance to the shareholder strategy, contributing to the achievement of economic diversification and sustainable growth,” said Dahwa.
Speaking at the Air Botswana stakeholder engagement forum yesterday, Dahwa expressed confidence that the on-time performance turn-around initiatives will revive the troubled airline and bring it to profitability.
“Implications of an improved on-time performance have far reaching benefits beyond just experiencing fewer delays. It is testament to the airline’s commitment to regaining customer trust,” he said.
In the past, Air Botswana experienced a myriad of challenges ranging from financial losses to severe disruptions, leading to the grounding of some flights. Also, there have been complaints of inefficiencies emanating from lack of timeliness and booking irregularities.
However, Dahwa is adamant that all the woes that the parastatal has been going through are slowly becoming a thing of the past.
“I am sure an operationally reliable Air Botswana will grow to become one of Africa’s top five airlines. Our vision is to be a highly competitive regional airline ranked amongst Africa’s top 10 by 2020,” he enthused.
According to Dahwa, the airline will only realise its vision through, among other things, adherence to time schedules, convenience and no delays in service as well as improving overall efficiency and reducing bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, Air Botswana acting director of engineering and maintenance, Winston Moloigaaswe said the airline has five aircrafts with two BAE146 aircrafts in the process of being disposed.
He added that two Avro regional jets have also reached their stage of disposal and that Air Botswana is seeking to also discard them.
He noted that the reason for disposing of the jets is that it is not cost effective to keep them, adding that even their maintenance takes long. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Goitsemang Morekisi told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last month that 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.