Thus, after diamonds, tourism has become Botswana's second biggest foreign exchange earner. But the achievement of the tourism sector could be blighted by the weekend's Okavango plane crash unless enough assurance is given that aircraft flying our skies are safe. At least eight people were killed when their tourist plane crashed soon after take-off near an airstrip at the Okavango Delta. Four Swiss, three French and two British nationals died when the Cessna 208 plane crashed and burst into flames on Friday. Naturally questions are being asked here in Botswana and in the victims' countries. And pertinent questions they are. Herein lies the problem: Botswana's aviation record has not been firmly interrogated. At best, there have only been a few complaints from the media about some potentially unsafe Air Botswana (AB) planes.
The weekend disaster though, should put the spotlight on various charter plane companies in Botswana and the flight regulatory body, the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB). For Botswana to dream of becoming the world's leading tourism destination it needs to sort out this basic question about its air travel: Is it safe to fly in Botswana? Given its infrastructure and advancement in many areas, Botswana should be distinguishable from the rest of Africa, where a third of worldwide plane crashes happen every year.
