29 Jul 2020

Parliament has been informed that Air Botswana is ready to introduce the business class services.

Responding to a parliamentary question on Tuesday, Minister of Transport and Communication, Mr Thulagano Segokgo said the service had been withdrawn due to operational safety compliance requirements which involved the configuration and installation of the gallery capacity to service business class passengers.

He said the preparatory work and manual updating process with regard to the addition of the gallery included a weight re-certification process and the configuration also required the involvement of the manufacturer.

Minister Segokgo also said  the safety requirements needed the development of a safety briefing procedure that met company’s safety standards while taking advantage of the new technical features of the aircraft.

“This is now complete and selling of the service will commence when the demand becomes viable as re-introduction of flights occurs,” he said.

Minister Segokgo further stated that Avions De Transport Regional GIE (ATR) had provided Air Botswana with indicative trade-in values of the respective aircraft.

He said this provision was purely based theoretical half-time values, which were a standard practice in the Industry to provide estimates.

He, however, said the contract was clear that the final price was to be paid by ATR to Air Botswana would be calculated based on the half-time value as well as re-directing conditions of the aircraft.

“Re-delivery conditions included conditions such as providing ATR with up to date manuals and technical records of each craft, back to birth and allowing for an inspection of the Manual and Technical Records,” he said.

Additionally, he said the re-delivery conditions included inspection of the aircraft structure and parts as well as inspection of the engines including with limitation, a bore scope inspection of low and high pressure compressors as well as the turbine area and engine condition.

Minister Segokgo further explained that as the aircraft were not bought new, as they were over 22 years ago, some of the documents from previous owners could not be obtained hence the downward adjustment of the value that the airline was expecting from ATR.

“Out of the US$13. 9 million that was expected for three aircrafts, there was a downward adjustment of US$1. 7 million,” he said.
Minister Segokgo also shared that Air Botswana bought three aircrafts, two ATR 72-600 and an Embracer E170 jet.

He said government financed the procurement of the two ATR72-600 to the tune of P290 million and the balance of the required US$ 38 million was settled through proceeds from the traded –in aircraft.

Furthermore, he said for the purchase of the Embraer E 170 jet, the Government granted Air Botswana a loan, out of the Public Service Debt Facility of P230 million, payable within a period of seven years, including a two year grace period.

Serowe West MP, Mr Khama, had asked the minister to explain as to when Air Botswana would sell business class air tickets as a product given that it had business class seats and why that had not been done to date.

Mr Khama also wanted the minister to confirm if any of the aircrafts traded-in attracted a penalty charge due to the condition of the aircraft and how much extra had to be paid by Air Botswana/government and whether that was budgeted for.

Mr Khama had also asked the minister to confirm whether the three aircrafts purchased by government for their re-fleeting had a loan repayment plan to reimburse the shareholder. ENDS