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Showing posts with label Gaborone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaborone. Show all posts

Monday, September 30, 2013

► BOTSWANA: Kalahari Airways eyes flights to New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong via its Gaborone hub.

Denis Coghlan, the chief executive officer of the ambitious Botswana-based startup, Kalahari Airways, has outlined his longterm vision for the company in which he sees the establishment of Gaborone as a regional hub for flights to Hong Kong and the United States in addition to London.

Monday, September 16, 2013

► BOTSWANA: Kalahari Airways turns to crowdfunding for 747s to operate London Gatwick flights.

Kalahari Airways is a Botswana-based startup that intends to offer flights from Cape Town, South Africa to London Gatwick via Gaborone Botswana using three B747-400s.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

■ BOTSWANA: Air Botswana begins process of finding a new GM after Mphi Tlhomelang passes.

Air Botswana
Following the recent passing of its late Acting General Manager, Ms Mphi Tlhomelang, Air Botswana (BP) has once more begun the process of finding a replacement. Ms Tlhomelang had only been in the position for two months after the resignation of previous GM, Sakhile Nyoni-Reiling, earlier this year.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

► SOUTH AFRICA: SA Express granted traffic rights to serve Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique out of Durban.

SA ExpressSouth African Express (XZ) has been granted traffic rights to serve Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique out of Durban following its application in October 2012. 

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

■ BOTSWANA: Parliamentary inquest picks holes in Air Botswana's operations, finances.

Air Botswana
A Batswana parliamentary inquest into the operations of state-owned national carrier, Air Botswana (BP) has uncovered purported oversights in the airline's fuel procurement, fleet selection and employee accountability procedures.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

► BOTSWANA: Kenya Airways boosts Gaborone flights; eyes Francistown, Maun next.

Kenya AirwaysBuoyed by the success of its Gaborone flights, Kenya Airways (KQ) is considering introducing flights to Francistown and Maun, the airline's country manager Juliet Zintambila has announced. Both airports have recently seen upgrades allowing them to handle heavier aircraft and greater passenger volumes.
 

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

■ BOTSWANA: Qatar, Botswana ink a Bilateral Air Services Agreement.

BotswanaQatar flag
The respective civil aviation authorities of Qatar and Botswana have concluded a Bilateral Air Services Agreement following a signing ceremony held in Doha recently. The ratification of the BASA comes after the deal was originally initialled by both states back in 2007.
 

Thursday, May 2, 2013

■ BOTSWANA: Gaborone SSKIA suffers $53'000 worth of damage to roof in unspecified incident.

Botswana Government logoFollowing an unspecified incident which resulted in damage to the roof and its lightning conductor, the Botswana Government, the operators of Gaborone's Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (SSKIA), have been forced to fork out USD53'000 (BWP430'000) to pay for emergency repair work.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

► KENYA: Etihad Airways, Kenya Airways announce further destinations in their codeshare deal.

Kenya Airways
As a continuation to its already announced tie up with Etihad (EY), Kenya Airways (KQ) is expanding its codeshare operations with the Gulf carrier, which will now see Etihad's “EY” code appearing on Kenya Airways’ selected service to Gaborone, Botswana as well as various East African cities. In return, Kenya’s “KQ” code is now appearing on selected ETIHAD’s Middle East Service.

■ BOTSWANA: Namibia, Botswana sign agreement on coordinated Search & Rescue operations.

Botswana and Namibia have signed agreement letters on civil aviation Search And Rescue (SAR) that will coordinate services in the country to meet domestic needs and international standards. The agreement will also ensure support during accidents as well as an overall plan for the coordination of civil search and rescue operations in the event of an air disaster.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

►► BOTSWANA: Air Botswana officially announce new destinations; new timetables loaded.

Air Botswana
[UPDATE 03 APRIL 2013]  Following on from our previous post on the topic, Air Botswana (BP) have announced their new updated timetable with new destinations including Johannesburg (Lanseria), Cape Town,  Nairobi (Kenya), Lilongwe, Blantyre (Malawi) and Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) as new destinations from the Batswana carrier's hub, Gaborone. Lusaka, Zambia will also see a third extra Wednesday frequency served in tandem to Lilongwe, Malawi which will receive a twice weekly service (one direct and the other via Lusaka.)

Monday, April 1, 2013

► BOTSWANA: Air Namibia to axe Gaborone from late May.

Air NamibiaAir Namibia (SW), will from 31MAY, axe its 4x weekly Windhoek - Gaborone, Botswana flights. The rationalization comes after the carrier announced it would drop its Johannesburg - Windhoek - Accra, Ghana service from 10APR13.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

■ BOTSWANA: Air Botswana inaugurates new Pula Lounge at Gaborone SSKIA Airport.

Air Botswana
Air Botswana (BP) has officially opened its new lounge at Gaborone's Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (SSKIA). Dubbed the Pula Lounge, after Botswana's national currency, the Pula, the facility will be available to members of Air Botswana's frequent flyer scheme, Teemane Club.

Friday, February 1, 2013

■ BOTSWANA: Ethiopia, Botswana officially ink new BASA; Ethiopian Airlines to start ops in the near future?

BotswanaEthiopia has continued its push into southern Africa with the recent official signing of a new Bilateral Air Services Agreement with Botswana, paving the way for possible flights between Addis Ababa and Gaborone by Ethiopian Airlines. Negotiations were concluded in May 2012 following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in May 2010.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Thursday, October 18, 2012

► BOTSWANA: Bluesky Airways launches charter ops; new website (at last).

BlueSky AirwaysBotswana's BlueSky Airways, on 14 October, flew its first commercial charter flight while today it finally launched its website - http://www.blueskyairways.co.bw - albeit 4 months after its original launch date of 9 July.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

► BOTSWANA: Air Botswana planning Nairobi, Lilongwe, Blantyre, Cape Town, Lanseria flights from October onwards?

Air Botswana
Reliable Zimbabwean aviation blog, Harare Airport Blogger, is reporting that Botswana's national carrier, Air Botswana (BP), is planning to launch various new regional routes with effect from 28 October 2012, though these reports have not yet officially been confirmed by Air Botswana itself.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

► NAMIBIA: Air Namibia announces numerous changes to its timetable from October onwards.

Air NamibiaAs part of their strategy of efficient utilisation of their aircraft, Namibian carrier Air Namibia (SW) have again announced various changes to both their regional and international network, effective from October 2012 (the precise dates are subject to each individual post).

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

►► SOUTH AFRICA: SA Express increases Gaborone & George operations.

SA ExpressSouth African Express Airways (XZ), better known as SA Express, has announced, effective 2 September 2012, it’ll introduce a 6th daily operation on its Johannesburg – Gaborone, Bostwana route while domestically the airline will add a 4th weekly Cape Town – George, South Africa flight in addition to increasing its Johannesburg – George, South Africa route frequencies from 20x to 24x weekly.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

► BOTSWANA: Air Botswana BAe146 suffers substantial engine damage following aborted take off in Gaborone.

Air Botswana
On Saturday 11th August 2012, an Air Botswana (BP) Avro RJ85 (MSN# 1160 | A2-ABF) performing flight BP 205 from Gaborone, Botswana to Johannesburg, South Africa with 28 passengers aboard, suffered a #2 engine failure during its take off roll at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport.

Air Botswana BAe146 'A2-ABF' Incident in Gaborone
The Air Botswana BAe146 'A2-ABF' in happier times  (KeithB)
"During the take-off roll, one of the engines failed and it is reported that it spat out debris. It is the hot debris from the engine that caused a small grass fire adjacent to the runway. The commander of the aircraft, Captain Adam Kereng reported that indications in the flight deck showed a malfunction of the number two engine, and therefore the take-off was aborted in compliance with standard operating procedures for this type of failure.
Once the aircraft had stopped, the passengers were disembarked and taken to the terminal building where they were briefed on the exact nature of the problem, and also on the alternative aircraft that would be made available for them to complete their flights to Johannesburg."
Source [Air Botswana]

Passengers did however complain to the Botswana press after the incident, claiming that they were "made to wait for more than 10 minutes inside the aircraft which continued to produce a cloud of smoke" and subsequently, had "to wait another 40 minutes before a minibus picked them up, as no senior personnel at Air Botswana showed up to address them, except the airhostess who also looked panicky."

Passengers were rebooked onto other flights thereafter whilst the stricken Avro (also known as a Bae 146-100) was towed away to a hangar. Fortunately, the airline is due to receive another BAe146 in coming weeks as part of Air Botswana's fleet renewal plan.

The Botswana Accident Investigations Department at the Ministry of Transport is investigating the accident.