16 Nov 2015

Participants at the Aviation Pitso have been urged to think outside the box and develop aviation related projects.

Speaking at the pitso in Maun recently, Botswana Oil  chief executive officer, Mr Willie Mokgatlhe, said stakeholders should explore unique strategies in which the aviation industry could facilitate economic development.

 “Let us look into the aviation education sphere and explore areas where we could invest and make Botswana a haven for aviation training for international students. 

Let us also learn from the past and inform our future plans,” he added.

Mr Mokgatlhe said the aviation industry could play a key role in economic development and in supporting long term economic growth adding that it facilitated a country's integration into global economy, providing direct benefits for users and wider economic benefits through its positive impact on productivity and economic performance.

He said greater connections to the global air transport network could boost the productivity and growth of economies by providing better access to markets, enhancing links within and between businesses and providing greater access to resources and to international capital markets.

He cited an industry report compiled by Stanford University which indicated that in the past decade, air travel had grown by seven per cent per year and travel for both businesses and leisure purposes grew strongly worldwide.

Mr Mokgatlhe revealed that in leisure market, the availability of large aircraft such as the Boeing 747 made it convenient and affordable for people to travel further to new and exotic destinations.

He emphasised the need to come up with state of the art concepts in every sector in order to capture the global market citing an example that having the aviation and tourism sector working in unison could achieve new ways of working that would also contribute to the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD).

For his part, Batawana deputy paramount chief, Kgosi Pringle Dithapo urged authorities in the aviation industry to ensure delivery standards were met.

He said their motto 'connecting communities' was befitting hence the need to up their game.  Kgosi Dithapo said Maun airport was the capital of aviation and a lot of improvement needs to be done. Ends