Air Botswana acquires second- hand aircraft

EPHRAIM KEORENG
Staff Writer | Tuesday August 21, 2012 00:00

 

The one already in Gaborone sports registration number A2-ABG. It is a 15-year-old aircraft which took its first flight in February 1997. It was delivered to Air Botswana last Thursday. Before the Botswana airline purchased it, Lufthansa CityLine owned it. The aircraft has four LY LF507-1F engines. Lufthansa CityLine is a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and a partner in the Lufthansa Regional concept. In its website, the airline claims to have carried 6.8 million passengers by December last year.Air Botswana assistant communications manager Thabiso Leshoai said the arrival of the plane is good for Air Botswana in that it will alleviate some of the pressure the airline has been experiencing with its current fleet. 'It will help in exploring the opening up of new routes as well as exploring focus on other business areas such as cargo handling due to the larger cargo hold of the AVRO RJ,' he said.The local airline, through its website, declares that it has a fleet of five aircraft, three ATR 42-500 and two new ATR 72-500. This means that the A2-ABG will increase its fleet to 11.