Air Botswana cancels flights

There is mounting anger in Maun among the general public and more particularly the tourism industry over Air Botswana’s unbelievable decision to once again cancel its Maun-Cape Town-Maun flights.

Seven years ago the national carrier did the same, citing lack of interest, which was inevitable considering the lack of publicity. When the latest service was started, once again, there was very little publicity given to it as the airline did not advertise its intentions in Maun where it would have been received with enthusiasm.

This meant that tourism and safari companies were in the dark about the new service and, of course, most had already made arrangements for their clients to arrive via Johannesburg. After all, booking and travel arrangements are decided upon months before the client actually arrives.

Earlier this year a much-vaunted service linking Maun to Victoria Falls was summarily cancelled, because, again, there was no publicity given to the service, with the result being that only one or two passengers were aboard the planes flying the route. The Maun-Kasane route was given the thumbs down, once more because Air Botswana did not advertise its intentions.