Air Botswana (BP, Gaborone) has put its fleet renewal plans on hold the airline Commercial Director, Hugh Fraser, has disclosed.
Speaking to the Botswana Guardian newspaper, Fraser said the process would only be resumed once the recently initiated privatization process had been completed.
The government-owned carrier currently operates a fleet of three ATR42-500s and one ATR72-500 averaging nearly eighteen years of age. Two ARJ-85s and two BAe 146-100s have been decommissioned and are currently in storage in Gaborone. To cater to its Cape Town International routes, Air Botswana wet-leases a single CRJ100 from CemAir (5Z, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo).
In late 2015, airline officials told ch-aviation that Air Botswana planned to phase out its ATR - Avions de Transport Régional (ATR) fleet by 2017 with both the A319-100 or the A320 being studied as potential replacements.
