As part of a restructuring that will see the transfer of ground handling operations to a company, Botswana’s national airline, Air Botswana, has unveiled plans to cut more than half of its staff.
The country’s carrier owns three aircrafts serving domestic and regional routes and has been running at a loss for more than a decade, mainly because of high maintenance costs for its planes.
The government has made attempts to sell the airline in the past, without success.
“In terms of the numbers of restructuring…we have a staff complement of about 450 staff members and the intention is to have about 210 staff members”, says Air Botswana director, Agnes Khunwana.
The announced retrenchment stems from plans to eliminate the carrier’s ground-handling operations, which are to be provided by a private company yet to be established.
“In an effort to unlock value and aid profitability, the airline has taken the first step towards unbundling its operations by forming a ground handling company,” Khunwana adds.
Most of the laid-off workers will be hired by the new company.