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°ECoordinates: 24°33′19″S 025°55′06″E / 24.55528°S 25.91833°E
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.

Airlines	Destinations
Air Botswana	Cape Town, Francistown, Harare, Johannesburg-Lanseria, Johannesburg-OR Tambo, Kasane, Lusaka, Maun, Victoria Falls
Airlink	Johannesburg-OR Tambo
Ethiopian Airlines	Addis Ababa
Kenya Airways	Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta
South African Express	Johannesburg-OR Tambo
TAAG Angola Airlines	Luanda

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 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.^[3]

Botswana Defence Force Air Wing

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

Photographs

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  Construction on the airport expansion

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  Air Botswana plane at Khama Airport 2011

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  Khama Airport 2011

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  Airport before expansion

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  Old interior of Khama Airport

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. "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

• Media related to Sir Seretse Khama Airport at Wikimedia Commons
• Airport information for Sir Seretse Khama International Airport at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
• Airport information for Sir Seretse Khama International Airport at Great Circle Mapper.
• Accident history for Sir Seretse Khama International Airport at Aviation Safety Network