The review saw a steep hike in fees from P100 per year for each airport or airstrip to P55 per square metre. Airports and airstrips are by their nature big pieces of land, The CAAB CEO, Dr Bao Mosinyi, noted at a recent media briefing in Maun that “on average that is about a P1 million per airstrip.” Yet the bulk of these airstrips are basically for security and humanitarian uses and do not make any revenue for CAAB. There are 23 of these airstrips, which are known as strategic airstrips, spread out into the hinterland, normally in hard-to-reach areas. They are primarily used for emergency medical evacuations and by the security sector including police, army, wildlife department and related cadres. Under the reviewed Land Boards fee structure, CAAB has, for instance, to pay P1.3 million annually for such an airstrip in Pandamatenga. That comes to about P21 million a year for all the airstrips. “As such we owe the Land Boards lots of money,” he revealed.
There are also two other airports that CAAB takes care of in Gantsi and Selebi-Phikwe and these are mainly used by very important persons (VIP) often for presidential or ministerial visits. The security sector also uses these. CAAB also runs four international airports comprising the Maun International Airport, the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone, the Kasane International Airport, and the PG Matante International Airport in Francistown. Though these are commercially oriented, Kasane and PG [Phillip Gaonwe] Matante airports are yet to generate profit. The Maun International Airport is currently CAAB’s highest-income earner, followed by the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport. Mosinyi is, however, optimistic that the fee issue will be resolved as CAAB management has been engaging the Lands ministry, intending to review the fee structure in relation to the aviation sector. Unfortunately, the aviation authority does not have the critical support of its board of directors, which has not been appointed since the last one’s term expired on March 31, 2024. Only the board chairperson remains, awaiting handover to the new board. If not urgently addressed, it is feared that CAAB’s so far steely implementation of their pronounced aviation sector development could be crush-landed by these lease fees.
