Sir Seretse Khama International Airport

Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (IATA: GBE, ICAO: FBSK), located 15 kilometres (9 mi) north of downtown Gaborone, is the main international airport of the capital city of Botswana. The airport is named after Sir Seretse Khama, the first president of Botswana.[3] It was opened in 1984 and offers limited capacity to handle regional and (especially) international traffic. Nonetheless, it has the largest passenger movement in the country. In 2017 the airport got its first special economic zone which will house in the following departments: CAAB, Botswana Innovation Hub, ITPA and diamond hub for diamond sector.[4][5]

Sir Seretse Khama
International Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorCivil Government
ServesGaborone
LocationGaborone, Botswana
Hub forAir Botswana
Elevation AMSL3,299 ft / 1,006 m
Coordinates24°33′19″S 025°55′06″E
Websitecaab.co.bw
Map
GBE
Location within Botswana
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
08/26 13,123 4,000[1] Concrete
Statistics (2016)
Passengers 727 912[2]

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Air BotswanaCape Town, Francistown, Harare, Johannesburg–O.R. Tambo, Kasane, Maun
AirlinkJohannesburg–O.R. Tambo
Air NamibiaDurban1, Windhoek–Hosea Kutako
Ethiopian AirlinesAddis Ababa2, Livingstone, Victoria Falls
Qatar AirwaysDoha3 (resumes 25 October 2020)[6]

^1 Air Namibia holds 5th freedom rights and serves traffic between Gaborone and Durban.
^2 This flight operates between Addis Ababa and Gaborone via Victoria Falls, however Ethiopian Airlines does not have rights to transport passengers solely between Gaborone and Victoria Falls.
^3 This flight operates between Gaborone and Doha via Johannesburg, however Qatar Airways does not have freedom rights to transport passengers solely between Gaborone and Johannesburg.

Incidents and accidents

On 11 October 1999, an Air Botswana pilot, Captain Chris Phatswe, commandeered a parked Aérospatiale ATR 42 aircraft A2-ABB without authorization in the early morning and took off. Once in the air, he asked by radio to speak to the president, Air Botswana's general manager, the station commander, central police station and his girlfriend, among others. Because the president was out of the country, he was allowed to speak to the vice president. In spite of all attempts to persuade him to land and discuss his grievances, he stated he was going to crash into some aircraft on the apron. After a total flying time of about 2 hours, he did two loops and then crashed at 200 knots (370 km/h; 230 mph) into Air Botswana's two other ATR 42s parked on the apron. The captain was killed but there were no other casualties.

Airline sources say the pilot had been grounded on medical reasons, refused reinstatement and regrounded until February 2000. Air Botswana operations were crippled, as the airline temporarily only had one aircraft left – a BAe 146 that was grounded with technical problems.[7]

Statistics
Fiscal yearPassengersRef
2014/15740 733[8]
2015/16727 912[9]

Botswana Defence Force Air Wing

Botswana Defence Force Air Wing VIP Flight Wing is based at the airport.

  • Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone, Botswana
  • Construction on the airport expansion
  • Air Botswana ATR 72-500 at Khama Airport 2011
  • Airport before expansion
  • Old interior of Khama Airport

References
  1. Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana–Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE) Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  2. http://www.caab.co.bw/wp-content/uploads/12601-CAAB-Annual-Report-2015-2016-version-7-facing-pages.pdf
  3. "Ministry of Works & Transport. Department of Civil Aviation". Department of Civil Aviation. 2005. Archived from the original on 3 October 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  4. "Appointment for Sir Seretse Khama International Airport". Royal HaskoningDHV. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  5. "Botswana plans Special Economic Zone to house diamond trading hub". Namibia Economist. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  6. https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/291167/qatar-airways-jun-aug-2020-operations-ns20-network-suspensions-as-of-0700gmt-07may20/
  7. "ASN Aircraft accident ATR-42-320 A2-ABB Gaborone–Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE)". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. 18 November 2005. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  8. http://www.caab.co.bw/wp-content/uploads/12601-CAAB-Annual-Report-2015-2016-version-7-facing-pages.pdf
  9. http://www.caab.co.bw/wp-content/uploads/12601-CAAB-Annual-Report-2015-2016-version-7-facing-pages.pdf

Media related to Sir Seretse Khama Airport at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.