22 Feb 2018

President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama yesterday officially opened Kasane International Airport (KIA).

According to President Khama,  the P430 million facility does not only provide access to Botswana’s tourism region, but also demonstrates government’s commitment to deliver improved infrastructure to meet passenger demands in and out of the country.

President Khama said government had always recognised critical role played by the aviation transportation in the economy of the country.

“Aviation contributes significantly towards tourism, trade, investment and the travel industry as a whole and it is through this realisation that we deliberately decided to invest substantially in the development and improvement of our airports and other related infrastructure,” he said.

The President said Kasane was one of Southern Africa’s regional tourist gateways providing access to Chobe National Park and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Zambia and therefore the airport would stimulate other tourism activities in the region.

He said the airport started operating in 1991 and proved to be too small to handle the number of passengers coming through as in 1999, it handled 30 674 passengers; a number that had increased to 96 975. He explained that the expansion of the airport would facilitate expected ongoing increase in the number of tourists coming to Chobe.

“We expect the opening of this new international airport to play a positive role in changing the lives of Kasane community, while facilitating all tourists,” he said.

The President appealed to KIA staff to offer tourists and travellers the feel and uniqueness of Kasane as soon as they arrived and urged the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB) to aim to give travellers a good travelling experience coupled with good commercial as well as a leisurely experience through its retail spacing. He noted Botswana performed well in the latest ICAO safety audits and CAAB should leverage on that to attract more airlines to utilise KIA as well as other airports in the country.

He said Botswana was currently rated at 71.32 per cent of effective implementation of Aviation Safety Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) and the assessment put Botswana above the African average of 48.24 per cent and the world average of 63.44 per cent, saying anybody considering to visit the country would do so with enhanced confidence.

“With this achievement, Botswana is one of the safest countries as far as aviation safety is concerned and this should help grow the tourism industry which happens to be the second revenue earner for this country,” the President said.

Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Kitso Mokaila said while KIA had a 12 month delay in completion due to delays in power supply, provision of work permits and other factors, it was completed within budget. He said KIA was modern with installations which he believed would meet demands of end users.

Chobe Member of Parliament, Mr Machana Shamukuni applauded government for construction of the airport. 

He noted that during the construction of the airport, graduates from Construction Industry Trust Fund gained experience and had since been employed elsewhere. Ends