A new addition to Air Botswana’s fleet, the AVRO RJ-85 from Germany’s Lufthansa Airlines Company, is now in the country.
Air Botswana has increased its fleet of aircraft to eight, following the purchase of a 90-seater aircraft, which arrived in the country last week on Monday.
The Commercial Director at Air Botswana, Joe Motse, said the new jet has already been licensed and is set to commence operation on 28th October 2012.
Motse said the AVRO RJ-85 will be servicing the new route of Gaborone to Cape Town. The jet is also expected to operate in all Air Botswana routes, including the new ones of Gaborone-Lilongwe, Gaborone-Blantyre, Maun-Johannesburg and Gaborone-Nairobi, which are expected to be launched soon.
Motse said this will make business flexible and servicing new routes easier as well as improve reliability of schedule.
“The new jet has come at a time when the national airline is looking to expand its route network into other Southern African destinations,” said Motse.
Asked if they meet demand, Motse said the available aircrafts meet the current schedules and enable the company to seek for new markets. He added that the AVRO RJ-85 is bigger than those in their existing fleet and they are equipped with bigger engines.
Motse said the new addition will alleviate some of the pressure that has been experienced by its current fleet. It will help in exploring new routes as well as other business areas such as cargo handling due to its larger cargo capacity.
