Air Botswana (BP, Gaborone) is set to undertake job cuts as its owner, the Botswanan government, looks to improve the airline's bottom line ahead of a renewed privatisation drive.
Company sources told Botswana's Weekend Post newspaper that a consultancy report pointed to overstaffing in Air Botswana's engineering and technical departments. During a meeting called on Wednesday, August 14, the airline's maintenance director informed staff to prepare for looming retrenchments.
“For sure we are going to downsize; that is, reduce the number of technicians and engineers,” an official said.
Following several failed attempts, the latest being in 2018, government said its next attempt at privatising Air Botswana would require drastic changes at the loss-making carrier in order to improve its palatibility to potential investors.
Aside from reducing its staff overhead, a fleet renewal drive has also been initiated wherein the carrier has acquired two new-build ATR72-600s alongside two ex-Saudi Aramco Aviation E170s. While the two ATR - Avions de Transport Régional turboprops have already been delivered, only one of the Embraer regional jets has - A2-ABM (msn 17000318) - with the other - msn 17000319 - still in storage at Toronto Pearson.
