Dedicated cargo flight supports growing volumes

Growing air cargo volumes is a high priority for Air Botswana which has reintroduced a dedicated freighter service between Johannesburg and Gaborone. According to Molefi Kgautlhe, assistant cargo manager for the airline, they are already seeing an increase in volumes just months after launching the new service. “Air cargo in Botswana is onedirectional, mostly transiting from Johannesburg from our interlining partners. We don’t have that much volume flying out of the country and so it is not just about growing the volumes inbound but also looking at ways of increasing the outbound volume,” he said. With the close proximity of Gaborone to Johannesburg – only about 400km – Kgautlhe said air freight faced stiff competition from road. “Air freight by its very nature is expensive and so we have to work exceptionally hard to attract and retain volumes for air.” He said volumes had been increasing steadily over the past few months leading the airline to launch a dedicated cargo flight in August. “We are using a DC 4 with eight tonne capacity flying between Johannesburg and Gaborone twice weekly,” he said. “At the same time we also have around three tons of cargo capacity on our daily commercial flights on the same sector.” Kgautlhe said there was also an increase in the cargo volumes between Gaborone and other destinations such as Lusaka in Zambia and Harare in Zimbabwe. “We are flying a lot of pharmaceuticals to Lusaka as well as vaccinations for livestock to various destinations worldwide – and that’s proving to be a very viable business. Estimates are that we have seen regional growth of around 3% this year alone,” he told FTW. INSERT & CAPTION It’s not just about growing the volumes inbound but also looking at ways of increasing the outbound volume. – Molefi Kgautlhe