Air Botswana boss downplays emergency landing
Bame Piet | Thursday August 28, 2014 06:00
“We are still investigating the incident but we can confirm that one of our crew members noticed fire in the left engine of the aircraft. As per procedure, she shut down the engine and the aircraft safely flew back to our airport,” said AB general manager Ben Dahwa, addressing journalists yesterday.
“Its not an unusual event in the operations of an airline, although it is not preferred. There is nothing to panic about. We will make sure that it doesn’t occur again,” he said. Dahwa noted that although the airline has an ageing fleet, its safety and maintenance procedures are up to international standards, which has earned it respect and recognition from international aviation organisations.
He outlined the airlines problems ranging from a demotivated staff, loss-making operations, and staff turnover. He however said that their main challenge is that Air Botswana operates in a small and stagnant market, but has stiff competition from foreign airlines such as South African Express and Kenyan Airways.
He attributed staff demotivation to government’s announcement several years ago that it would privatise the airline. He said this led to job insecurity and culminated in Air Botswana losing some skilled professionals to other competitors.
Dahwa however pointed out that Air Botswana was among the top 10 highly equipped airlines in the African continent in that it owns all its assets from aircraft to office buildings.
He said passengers had lost faith in the airline because of delays of several minutes and sometimes, hours. He however noted that his team is working around the clock to rectify this problem.
“In some instances, passengers were not even sure if the flight would take off, they went to the airport with a 50/50 probability that they would fly. When airline operations are below 70 percent on-time performance then there is something wrong,” he said.
After 100 days in office, Dahwa said the problem was 85 percent solved with more initiatives put in place to improve the situation, translating to less than 15 minutes flight delays.
Meanwhile, Dahwa promised that the airline would not retrench any staff members.
“There are instances where it may seem there is overstaffing, but the strategic plan indicates that we are going to need more people in some areas. However, those who opt for early exit or retirement will be allowed to do so,” he added.