He said that Botswana has signed eight Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA) with Belgium, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Zambia and Zimbabwe. "The ninth with Qatar will be signed on April 12, 2011. We also have a memoranda of understanding with Angola, Egypt,Ethiopia, Germany, France, Netherlands, Pakistan, Tanzania and United Arab Emirates,"he said.
Ramsden stated that BASAs are intended to create a conducive environment for attracting more operators, including major airlines that will link Botswana with major destinations in the world. He said that Air Botswana is working on re-registering with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) by end of this year. The airline was de-registered after it failed to comply with IATA audit, safety and human resource requirements. "In preparation for re-fleeting, the airline has identified new routes locally and most of the regional capitals and a few overseas destinations. Air Botswana lost P45 million in 2009-2010. The anticipated loss for 2010-2011 is around P23 million," Ramsden said.
