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 to handle regional and international traffic. It has the largest passenger movement in the country. In 2017 the airport got its first special economic zone which would house in the following departments: CAAB, Botswana Innovation Hub, ITPA and diamond hub for diamond sector.^[4][5]

Sir Seretse Khama International Airport
IATA: GBE ICAO: FBSK
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana
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
Website	www.caab.co.bw
Map
GBE Location within Botswana
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 08/26 13,123 4,000[1] Concrete
Statistics (2021[2])
Passengers 146,162 Movements 7,852

View of Sir Seretse Khama International Airport from tarmac

History

British Airways discontinued its flight to London's Heathrow Airport via Johannesburg in April 1999.^[6]

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Air Botswana	Cape Town, Durban,[7] Francistown, Harare, Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo, Kasane, Lusaka, Maun, Windhoek–Hosea Kutako[7]
Airlink	Cape Town,[8] Johannesburg–O. R. Tambo
Ethiopian Airlines	Addis Ababa

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 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.^[9]

Statistics

Year	Passengers	Movements	Ref
2012	406,976	16,150	[2]
2013	401,100	16,346	[2]
2014	384,376	16,548	[2]
2015	382,280	17,563	[2]
2016	402,865	17,439	[2]
2017	424,640	15,980	[2]
2018	444,473	16,135	[2]
2019	470,972	16,299	[2]
2020	117,227	5,918	[2]
2021	146,162	7,852	[2]
2022	652,141	63868	[10]
2023	763,809	69900	[10]

Air Botswana ATR 72-500 at Khama Airport in 2011.

Botswana Defence Force Air Wing

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