Thursday, October 18, 2012

► BOTSWANA: Bluesky Airways launches charter ops; new website (at last).

BlueSky AirwaysBotswana's BlueSky Airways, on 14 October, flew its first commercial charter flight while today it finally launched its website - http://www.blueskyairways.co.bw - albeit 4 months after its original launch date of 9 July.


BlueSky Airways Gaborone launch
BlueSky Airways Gaborone launch
Whilst no scheduled routes are mentioned on the carrier's website per se, there is reference to possible flights between Gaborone, Botswana and Johannesburg (ORTIA), South Africa using its sole B737-200 Adv. (MSN 23520 | A2-FMX).

BlueSky Airways has, in the past, announced plans to acquire four Boeing 737 aircraft to be used on scheduled flights from the Batswana capital, Gaborone, to various domestic and regional destinations. As part of an existing charter airline, Flying Mission Services,  Blue Sky Airways' jets would then be operating in direct competition with the national carrier, Air Botswana (BP), who recently announced an ambitious regional expansion plan that will see service to as far afield as Nairobi.

Based out of Gaborone's Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, the carrier's parent company Flying Mission Services, from whom it wet leases its 737, was founded in 1977, using aircraft to take mission and medical personnel on trips into the Kalahari Desert regions in and around Botswana.