Five southern African airlines have expressed interest in taking part in the privatisation of Air Botswana, a government official said on Monday.
”We have done a number of road shows to talk to a number of regional airlines and five of them have expressed interest,” said Nyadze Thipe, permanent secretary in the ministry of works and transport.
He declined to name the airlines, except to say that the countries visited were South Africa, Mauritius and Kenya.
The tiny national carrier owns and operates three ATR42-500 turboprop aircraft and one BAe146-100, and has a total staff of about 200 people.
It is gearing up for privatisation in September this year.
Its core routes have for six years been feeders to Johannesburg International Airport, but it has recently added direct routes from Johannesburg to Botswana’s northern tourist destinations and from Gaborone to Harare.
It is also planning to start flying a direct route from Cape Town to Maun in the Okavango Delta, in northwest Botswana, from this month in a bid to boost flagging tourism by packaging the delta, Victoria Falls and Cape Town ahead of the privatisation process.
Under the proposed privatisation scheme the strategic partner or consortium would be offered a 45% equity stake, while a further 10% would be reserved for airline staff.
The government would retain the remaining 45%. Within a year the government would then offer 20% to the public via an initial public offer before listing the airline on the Botswana Stock Exchange.
”We are about to enter the bidding process and as such we have sent notes to all prospective airlines,” Thipe said.
The airline turned its first profit in 1997 and has remained profitable since. Prior to 1997 it had accumulated significant losses before it was restructured and abandoned a perceived role as the Southern African Development Community airline.
In terms of that role, it linked the capitals of all 13 other member-states to the secretariat in Gaborone. ‒ Sapa-AFP