Puma Energy Botswana is fully equipped and capable of handling the increasing demand for aviation fuels, particularly with the introduction of new routes, Managing Director (MD), Dominic Dhanah said.
Dhanah said Puma satisfies its market through multiple import ports and storage facilities both locally and in Walvis Bay.
Puma supplies aviation fuel in Botswana at all four airports, with fueling and service efficiency in line with international standards. Across the four airports, the Jet A1 storage capacity totals 850,000 litres, with Avgas storage capacity across the four airports at 234,000 litres.
On average, capacity is around a month cover for jet A1 and two months for Avgas. Puma said the storage capacity and supply availability ensure continuous supply contributing to fuel supply security in the country and enabling a critical part of the tourism industry to thrive.
Air Botswana recently announced its expansion plan with the acquisition of three new planes.
“These additions will facilitate new routes, including Windhoek-Maun and potentially Gaborone-Durban direct flights. Plans also include Mpumalanga-Maun services and the revival of Cape Town-Kasane routes,” CEO Lulu Rasebotsa announced, adding that these additions are all geared at ease of travelling in and out of Botswana to grow the volume of travellers and consequently the tourism industry.
Dhanah revealed that over US$ 400,000 has recently been invested into the Maun Depot to allow for the imminent introduction of Air Ethiopia flights into the Maun airport.
“This has also been accompanied with investment into additional staff and training them,” he said noting that these efforts are also driven by “our constant ambition to support our government’s ambitions in making Botswana a destination of choice for tourists and business people”.
According to the International Visitor Arrivals Stats Brief, Botswana received a total of 248,946 international visitors (tourists) during the second quarter of 2022. These represented 88.2 percent of total non-citizen arrivals (282,220) the bulk of whom emanated from the SADC sub-region. In-Transit tourists represented the highest proportion of tourists, at 47.6 percent (99,986) followed by Business tourists at 19.9 percent (41,791) of all the tourist arrivals.Puma Energy’s Aviation Refueling Operator, Tebogo Ratsatsi shared Statistics Botswana’s reports which indicates that in the first quarter of 2024, 52.6 percent of exports were shipped by air.
As per the Quarter 3, 2023 Multi-Topic Survey conducted by Statistics Botswana, the hospitality sector, being a crucial component of the tourism industry, contributed approximately 23,000 jobs, which represents 4.1 percent of all formal jobs. According to the survey, 94 percent of these employees are citizens. The Statistical data from the Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) also demonstrate that the tourism sector contributes 5.1 percent to the country’s GDP.
Tourism is projected to have represented 13.5 percent of Botswana’s GDP in the initial quarter of 2024 with an anticipated tourist expenditure of P 20.2 billion throughout 2024 according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. With tourism as such a critical contributor to Botswana’s economic growth, Puma believes its investment in state-of-the-art refuelling infrastructure and equipment across all airports in Botswana has been critical in supporting the local economy.
Beyond investment in storage capacity and focus on security of supply, Dhanah said Puma continues to identify and implement innovative initiatives that add value to the services “we offer our clients at the airports”. These include solutions that automate and secure processes, enable a real-time 360-degree view of the business, speed up fueling and invoicing processes and reduce errors.
