Gaborone Travel News & Guides

Virgin Blue has demonstrated its support for Gold Coast tourism by increasing flight capacity by 14 percent over the past year and signing on to sponsor the Sunny state’s football team.

The airline announced earlier this week it signed on to be a joint major sponsor for the Gold Coast Suns in 2011 and hopes the reported $6 million deal will increase interest in the AFL team and the area, the Herald Sun reported.

“We are confident this partnership will help further grow visitor numbers from the AFL fan base,” Virgin Blue spokesperson Justin Montgomery said.
The airline’s logo will feature on the team’s jumpers next season as well as on the Suns’ clash and away strip.

“Virgin Blue is a strong supporter of the Gold Coast and sees the value in supporting the AFL’s newest club and the benefits it will bring to the region in tourism, fan travel and related economic benefits,” Gold Coast Suns chief executive Travis Auld said.

<p>Qantas baggage handlers said they will go slow over Christmas in protest of Qantas’ one piece check in restrictions.</p>
<p>The new rule commencing from 1 June 2010, limits domestic passengers to one piece of check in luggage causing an increase in the worker’s lifting weight, The Australian reported.</p>
<p>While the Transport Workers Union (TWU) refused to confirm the protest, TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon said he supports worker’s rights to protest against heavy and dangerous lifting.</p>
<p>“There has been no risk assessment on how the baggage and ramp operations will be affected… the workforce is rightfully concerned,” Mr Sheldon said.</p>
<p>“We do know there is a high injury rate for baggage handlers, especially back injuries.</p>
<p>“We have seen evidence that management is aware of this, as their strategy is to outsource the work to ‘sweatshop labour’ to avoid the costs of compensation.”</p>
<p>Qantas said it has addressed all OH&#038;S requirements.</p>
<p>“The majority of our customers already travel with one piece of luggage which is well under the maximum weight allowance,” Qantas spokesperson said.<br />
TWU said it will contact WorkCover to complete a risk assessment. </p>

otswana’s capital and biggest cosmopolitan city is Gaborone. International flights to Botswana’s other big cities and neighboring countries operate mostly via Gaborone. In terms of population as well, it is the largest with 186,007 inhabitants approx. Which means there will be a lot of cultural and food variations to see.

Gaborone is also referred to as “Gabs”. It’s an excellent and promising beginning of a trip to Botswana. The city is a center of the national economy and hosts the headquarters of important financial institutions such as the Bank of Botswana, Bank Gaborone, Consumer Watchdog, Botswana Telecommunications Corporation, Debswana and the Botswana Stock Exchange. Botswana’s national airlines, ‘Air Botswana’ also holds its headquarters in Gaborone.

The top attraction of Botswana is Kgale Hill. Gaborone is situated between Kgale and Oodi Hills, on the Notwane River in the southeastern corner of Botswana and 15 kilometers from the South African border. Climbing the Kgale Hill is a popular activity in Gaborone. It is one of Botswana’s largest hills raising a height of about 100m. The best advantage of taking up this hike is, that it gives a magnificent and superb view of the city. The climb itself is very pleasant, while the bird eye view of Gaborone is perfect for taking a memorable snapshot of the city.

Another thing to remember while climbing up the Kgale hill, is to watch for baboons. Seek a local guide’s help and try not to feed or invite the baboons any closer to you for this can pose danger in wild. Also keep a map and be careful not to stray off the path. Climbing up the Kgale in a group is most ideal situation and its not advised to carry out the climb alone unless you are a professional and dare devil. There is no entrance fee applicable for entering or climbing Kgale.

Kgale Hill is within close proximity of city centre. The airport in Gaborone is located around 15 kilometers (9 mi) north, where flight to Gaborone from round the world will drop you. Gaborone has the main international airport of Botswana. The country’s national carrier, Air Botswana that holds its base here, provides services to Francistown, Harare, Johannesburg, Kasane and Maun.

Gaborone is the capital city of Botswana. It is also the main gateway to city attractions as almost all top airlines offer flights to Botswana from worldwide destinations. If you are an international traveler, Gaborone will be your starting point in discovering the wonders of Botswana.

Botswana’s specialty, like most other African countries, lies in its Wild life Safari and Game reserves. Out of the many, the finest game reserve in Botswana is “Gaborone Game Reserve”. Gaborone, for being the capital as well as greatest city of Botswana makes “Gaborone Game Reserve” easily accessible. The game reserve located in close proximity with the capital city, is home to a variety of African wildlife animals.

Gaborone Game Reserve was established in the year 1988. It provides a unique experience to encounter and picture herds of Zebras running free in the wild. It is here that you can spot wart hogs, wild boars and monkeys, in a peaceful environment. Unlike other game reserves, Gaborone Game reserve is most often, less crowded and therefore, you get to film some amazing situation here. The human interference in Gaborone Game Reserve is kept to minimal. Other game includes rhino, impala, kudu, ostriches, wildebeest, gemsbok, bushbuck, springbok, duiker and eland.

This reserve also gives you an excellent chance for bird watching. Yet, the most important and notable quality of Gaborone Game Reserve is that, if you have a car you are free to move around the reserve un-guided. The park has a good network of game viewing roads, a visitors education center, a couple of picnic sites, a game hide and a remote bird hide overlooking a reeded expanse of wetland.

With a little more attention given to the country’s Game Reserves; Botswana can be the ‘Next Big Thing” in the world of Wild Life safaris and Game Viewing. The country also offers wonderful golfing experience and wild life sanctuaries. Unlike other African Safari destinations, the overall cost and expense of holidays in Botswana is even less than half. Cheap flights to Gaborone are available through connections from neighboring countries, accommodations are reasonable priced and excursions are affordable.

Air Botswana has applied for slots granting direct flights to London to help grow the air transport services.

In addition Botswana is in the process of negotiating Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA’s) with some Airlines which have shown interest to fly to and from Gaborone.

Gazette Business has learnt that an Agreement was signed with Ethiopia in May 2010.

It is also understood that negotiation dates have been scheduled for Singapore, Angola, Egypt, Mauritius, Qatar, Emirates, Namibia and Kenya. Most of the negotiations will reportedly be concluded in November 2010.

Government has already established BASA negotiations with various countries without the Open Skies Policy in mind, hence the need to review most of them.

Action has already been initiated to negotiate/renegotiate the BASA’s in order to create a more favourable environment for international airlines to operate to/from Botswana.

Open skies is an international policy concept which calls for the liberalization of rules and regulations on international aviation industry most especially commercial aviation – opening a free market for the airline industry.

It’s primary objectives are to liberalize the rules for international aviation markets and to minimize government intervention — the provisions apply to passenger, all-cargo and combination air transportation and encompass both scheduled and charter services; or to adjust the regime under which military and other state-based flights may be permitted.

A BASA is a contract to liberalize aviation services, usually commercial civil aviation, between two contracting states.

Liberalisation of the air transport services with regard to both domestic and foreign operations is expected to maximise the utilisation of Botswana’s airspace and air facilities.

Gazette Business has also been informed that the draft regulations for, among others, licensing private operators to provide scheduled passenger flights has been received by the Attorney General’s Chambers and is awaiting approval.

Botswana wants Sir Seretse Khama Airport to become the most important secondary Southern African air passenger, as an alternative to the congested Johannesburg airport.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications is in the process of either adopting an Open Sky Policy, or initially granting 5th Freedom rights to specific airlines, to attract international carriers to use Gaborone as a base for direct flights to Botswana, and then into the region (and possibly from Gaborone to South America/US,) in competition with SAA for its US route clients.

To demonstrate its commitment to improving the air transport sector, the Ministry held an Aviation Pitso in May 2010 to map the way forward on how Air Transport could be improved in Botswana.

It is understood that the recommendations of the Pitso resolutions are ongoing. The Government has also committed itself to upgrading country’s major airports and in addition the 16th Allied Business Leadership Conference where aviation issues were discussed was hosted by Botswana.

The International Air Services Commission (IASC) has released several notifications, including determinations on Qantas’ allocations to Indonesia and the Philippines, V Australia routes, and a decision on the Etihad/Pacific Blue codeshare.

For Qantas, the Notification of Determination made on 25 October allocated 1226 seats of capacity per week in each direction on the Indonesia route, and two frequencies and 369 seats of passenger capacity beyond Indonesia.

The national carrier was also granted 531 seats of capacity in each direction on the Philippines route.

Further, IASC allocated 1514 seats of capacity per week to Strategic Airlines, and 1260 seats of capacity per week to Virgin Blue.

Capacity and codeshare approval was granted to V Australia, enabling the carrier to operate to the United Arab Emirates and to codeshare on Etihad services.

In a Notification of Decision, also on 25 October, the Commission permitted Etihad Airlines to codeshare on Pacific Blue Australia services between Australia and New Zealand.

The UK aviation industry has backed the views of British Airways chairman Martin Broughton that airport security checks need overhauling.

Mr Broughton said some parts of the security programme were “completely redundant” and that the UK should not “kowtow” to the Americans every time the US wanted something done.

Mike Carrivick, chief executive of BAR UK, which represents more than 80 scheduled airlines in the UK, said the whole question of airport security needs to be looked at.

Speaking at the annual conference of the UK Airport Operators Association in London, Mr Broughton said that people should not be forced to take off their shoes and have their laptops checked separately in security lines.

He added that there was no need to “kowtow to the Americans every time they wanted something done”, especially when this involved checks the US did not impose on its own domestic routes.

The US stepped up security in January in the wake of an alleged bomb plot.

It introduced tougher screening rules, including body pat-down searches and carry-on baggage checks, for passengers arriving from 14 nations which the authorities consider a security risk. Passengers from any foreign country also face random checks.

Mr Carrivick said: “There seems to be a layered approach to security at airports. Every time there is a new security scare, an extra layer is added on to procedures.

“We need to step back and have a look at the whole situation. Standards change fairly regularly and this puts pressure on airports and airlines. We need to decide what we are trying to do and how best to do it.”

Colin Matthews, chief executive of airport operator BAA, spoke of “rationalising” security procedures, while former security minister Lord West said airport checks were “onerous” and had gone too far.

AIR FRANCE KLM has been voted as The Best European airline Travel Award at the 21st TTG Travel Awards 2010 held in Bangkok on 08th October 2010. The annual TTG Travel Awards presented by TTG Publishing seeks to recognize and honor the finest luminaries in Asia-Pacific’s travel industry. It is through these coveted awards that the travel trade acknowledges the top performers of the travel industry, who have consistently shown strong commitment towards service excellence.

AIR FRANCE KLM has been voted unanimously by the readers of TTG Asia, TTG China, TTGmice and TTG-BTmice China as THE BEST EUROPEAN AIRLINE this year.

Our success as “The Best European Airline” is an endorsement and recognition by our Travel Partners in Asia Pacific of what AIR FRANCE KLM stands for based on the following key voting criterions:

* Excellence in service
* Best network , products and schedules
* Most agent friendly in terms of reservations, confirmations, most professional sales and marketing team with innovative ideas, program and servicing.

“We are very proud to have been accorded this honor. We wish to thank the readers of TTG Asia for their overwhelming support. This prestigious award is a tribute to our staff at AIR FRANCE KLM, it would not have been possible without their dedication, hard word and loyalty. I want to thank them as this award reminds us of our commitment and professionalism to our customers, our travel partners and business associates,” says Marnix Fruitema, Senior Vice President, Asia-Pacific, AIR FRANCE KLM.

Air NZ and Virgin Blue have offered to add seats on six routes to appease regulators that their pending alliance won’t lead to service cuts and higher fares.

The airlines, seeking to cooperate on trans-Tasman routes, are prepared to increase capacity across the Tasman by 10 per cent over three years and by 15 per cent over five years, Bloomberg reported.

The submission was posted on the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s website, as the airlines look to allay concerns of anti-competitive behaviour with the watchdog.

As outlined in the submission, Air NZ and Virgin Blue are willing to commit to extra flights in the expectation that collaboration will boost passenger numbers.

In September, the regulatory body had declared it was opposed to the venture, prolonging the carriers’ attempt to challenge the airways currently held by Qantas and budget offshoot Jetstar.

The routes covered by the offer include flights from Brisbane to Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin; from Sydney to Wellington and Queenstown; and from Melbourne to Wellington.

The airlines also stipulated they wouldn’t reduce trans-Tasman capacity below current levels.

The latest submission, promising extra flights from NZ’s capital, has alleviated the fears of Wellington International Airport’s chief Steve Fitzgerald, enough for the airport to drop its opposition to the alliance.
The ACCC has “extended the period for consideration of the applications until 20 December 2010,” the regulatory website said, and “anticipates releasing a final determination responding to the applicants’ applications in November/December.”