Major investment in cargo
handling facilities has seen
Air Botswana address some of
the biggest challenges that have
been facing its freighter service,
allowing it to aggressively market
the service and grow volumes.
According to cargo manager
Action Kombani, before the
investment and introduction of a
dedicated freighter service, they
were experiencing significant
belly capacity and general cargo
handling challenges. “We had
some serious constraints in terms
of equipment that really affected
our ability to grow our volumes
as much as we would have liked.
The several pieces of equipment
that were commissioned in June
this year have made a major
difference to our operations,”
he told FTW during a visit to
the airline’s offices in Gaborone
recently. “With the new
equipment in place we can load
and off-load cargo far more
effectively and efficiently and the
turnaround times have reduced
dramatically.
He said with the freighter
service and the new equipment in
place cargo was now available on
the ground in Botswana within
two hours or less from the time
it left Johannesburg. “We are
also considering other solutions
that can further add value to
our customers which include the
possibility of direct delivery to
the customer. In other words we
do not want to provide just an
airport to airport service but an
airport to door service as well.”
He said the airline’s expansion
plans in the region were expected
to positively impact the cargo
side of the business as well.
Whilst airfreight is more
expensive than road freight,
it does bring unique benefits
that road and rail are unable to
address like reduced long waiting
time at borders and better safety.
“Going forward, our outlook
for the airfreight business is very
positive. Growth in Africa is
expected to be around 6% and so
we need to tap into that growth
by developing the capacity to
ensure that Air Botswana can
play a significant role in the
airfreight business.”
Air Bots records ‘dramatic’ reduction in turnaround times
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