Gov't clips SA airline's wings

CemAir, a mid-tier airline based out of Johannesburg, operated Air Botswana’s Gaborone-Cape Town route on a wet lease between February 2017 and January 2018, when the South African airline was grounded after failing a technical inspection by that country’s civil aviation authorities. A wet lease refers to an arrangement where one airline uses another’s aircraft and cabin crew.

CemAir apparently rectified its technical issues with aviation authorities in South Africa and applied to re-enter the Botswana market on its own strength, with plans for flights from Kasane, Maun and Gaborone to various destinations in South Africa. The South African airline had planned to launch its re-entry into Botswana on August 2, with a Gaborone-Cape Town flight, but had not received any feedback to an August 2017 application from local aviation authorities. Had the August 2 flights begun, CemAir would have transformed from a South African to an international airline and the failure prompted a frustrated response from the company’s CEO, Miles van der Molen.