Botswana’s national airline, Air Botswana has “suspended services on the Gaborone Durban and Gaborone Windhoek routes.” The airline confirms that: “passengers traveling to Windhoek will continue to have access via our Gaborone-Maun-Windhoek connection.” According to the airline, this is part of its “route optimisation strategy”, says its “focus is to strengthen operational efficiency, enhance services, improve customer access, and continue to facilitate trade and tourism.”
Air Botswana says this decision enables it to optimize its “route network, safeguard schedule integrity, and ensure that our customers continue to benefit from reliable and efficient services.”
The airline further notes that in the past financial year, it “achieved an On-Time Performance (OTP) of 84%, exceeding 80% industry target, with July 2025 OTP performance reaching 92%.”
Acting General Manager, Mr. Boikanyo Ntwaagae said: “These results demonstrate the impact of our operational discipline and reflect our commitment to delivering a dependable service. By streamlining our routes, we expect to build further on this momentum, reduce disruptions, and provide our customers with greater confidence in our schedule integrity.”
There are media reports of financial difficulties at the national carrier including inability to pay some salaries and the General Manager of the airline placed on administrative leave. The reports also allude to the drive by the country’s president to ensure public enterprises do not remain a drain on national resources especially in the light of economic challenges facing the country.