Botswana’s troubled airline, Air Botswana, is up for privatisation again.

Kabelo Ebineng, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said plans were under way and that the Ministry hoped to achieve privatisation before winter this year.

In February last year, the ministry called for expressions of interest (EOI) by suitable entities to make proposals for privatisation, with ownership, joint ventures, franchising, concessions and partnerships to be considered.

Ebineng said 17 companies had responded to the EOI, a shortlist was produced and reduced to two contenders, with Wilderness considered the preferred bidder. Wilderness later withdrew its bid.

Finance Minister, Kenneth Matambo, in his budget speech earlier this month, said the airline had improved its performance, with a nett loss of BWP12.4 million (€1.05m) in 2017, down from BWP86.1 million (€7.29m) in 2016.