Sir Seretse Khama International Airport

Sir Seretse Khama International Airport
IATA: GBE – ICAO: FBSK
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Civil Government
Serves Gaborone
Location Gaborone, Botswana
Hub for Air Botswana
Elevation AMSL 3,299 ft / 1,006 m
Coordinates 24°33′19″S 025°55′06″E / 24.55528°S 25.91833°E / -24.55528; 25.91833Coordinates: 24°33′19″S 025°55′06″E / 24.55528°S 25.91833°E / -24.55528; 25.91833
Map
GBE

Location within Botswana

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
08/26 13,123 4,000[1] Concrete

Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (IATA: GBE, ICAO: FBSK), located 15 kilometres (9 mi) north of Gaborone, is the main international airport of the capital city of Botswana. The airport is named for Sir Seretse Khama, the first president of Botswana.[2] It was opened in 1984 and offers large capacity to handle regional and international traffic and has the largest passenger movement in the country.

Expansion

The government of Botswana has started a $61 million expansion plan to further develop the airport to accommodate increased traffic and larger planes.

Airlines and destinations

South African Express Bombardier Dash 8-Q300 at Gaborone Airport.
AirlinesDestinations
Air BotswanaCape Town, Francistown, Harare, Johannesburg-Lanseria, Johannesburg-OR Tambo, Kasane, Lusaka, Maun, Victoria Falls
AirlinkJohannesburg-OR Tambo[3]
Ethiopian Airlines Addis Ababa[4]
Kenya Airways Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta
South African Express Johannesburg-OR Tambo
TAAG Angola Airlines Luanda

Incidents and accidents

Further information: 1999 Air Botswana incident

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 planes 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 plane left – a BAe 146 which was grounded with technical problems.[5]

Botswana Defence Force Air Wing

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

Photographs

References

  1. ↑ Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana–Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE)
  2. ↑ "Ministry of Works & Transport. Department of Civil Aviation". Department of Civil Aviation. 2005. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  3. ↑ http://www.news24.com/Travel/Flights/Airlink-launches-third-Botswana-route-20131107
  4. ↑ "Ethiopian to Start flights to Cape Town and Gaborone" (Press release). Ethiopian Airlines. 19 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "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 5 September 2009.

External links

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