Air Botswana focuses on cargo growth

It may be slow going but Air

Botswana is increasing cargo

volumes following its decision

to introduce a dedicated freight

service between Johannesburg

and Gaborone.

Cargo manager Action

Kombani told FTW that the

airline had increased the freighter

service to two flights per week

following its launch just over

a year ago. “The volumes are

growing.

There is no

doubt that we

are seeing an

improvement

but it is still

slow going.”

He said

initially the

DC4 freighter had operated on

Tuesdays. A Saturday flight was

subsequently added, but after

consultation with industry the

decision was made to change to a

Friday.

Offering 15 tons of capacity

twice a week has seen a large

number of high-value goods

and pharmaceuticals previously

transported by road transferring

to air. “But our close proximity

to Johannesburg is still probably

our biggest challenge. It is only

400km by road and so there has

to be real value in justifying the

airfreight rate compared to road.”

With cargo currently

contributing only around 1% of

the airline’s revenue, it is top of the

agenda to significantly increase

this in the next few years. “This

is not a short-term approach. We

understand

that we need

to make

investments

to grow this

service and

increase our

volumes and

that a longterm

approach is required. The

airline is committed to growing

the cargo side of its business as it

will increase revenue significantly.”

He said a cargo strategy had

been developed to aggressively

market cargo, which included the

possibility of extending the cargo

freighter service to other countries

in the region.