[5] Air Botswana has been loss-making for several years, and there have been various attempts to privatise the company, and frequent changes to the corporation's management and board, so far without reducing the losses.

Throughout the 1970s, Air Botswana operated a round-trip route from Gaborone-Manzini-Johannesburg-Harare-Gaborone, in addition to domestic services to Francistown, Maun and Selebi-Phikwe.

[8] By the end of 1986, the route network included Gaborone, Francistown, Johannesburg, Harare, Lusaka, Manzini, Maseru, Maun, Selebi-Phikwe and Victoria Falls.

The BAe 146 entered service on 12 November on the Gaborone-Harare route, operated five times per week in conjunction with Air Zimbabwe, along with other destinations of the network of the airline in southern Africa.

[14] The incident left the company with only a single BAe 146, which had been non-operational for a year because of technical problems, forcing the airline to lease an aircraft to operate scheduled flights.

[24][25] Following a P300 million loss in the first quarter of 2006, the Sunday Standard reported that the government hurriedly began efforts to privatise the airline before it became insolvent.

The newspaper also revealed that the airline defaulted on its US$42,000 – 45,000 payments for the lease of the BAe 146 from April — July 2006, and that the arrears were paid once the airline's secretary and corporate counsel warned that non-compliance with the contracts could lead to the termination of the lease of the aircraft and expose the corporation to claims for damages, which would affect its image during the privatisation process.

[26] In September 2006 it was announced that three potential investors had placed bids for the tender to take over the airline: Airlink of South Africa, African World Airways Ltd, and Lobtrans (Ltd), a local truck fuel transporter.

Shortlisted companies which did not submit bids included Ethiopian Airlines, Comair, Tourism Empowerment Group, ExecuJet, and Interair South Africa.

[27] In November 2006, the Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency announced that Airlink has been put forward by the Ministry of Works and Transport as the preferred bidder for Air Botswana.

A major sticking point, according to Mmegi, was that Airlink was adamant in replacing the national colours of blue, black and white, with those of South Africa.

[40] Part of the bid reportedly included extending Air Botswana's route network to Düsseldorf Airport; the base of Blue Wings which is 48 percent owned by Lebedev's National Reserve Corporation.

The aircraft were delivered at the time of Air Botswana facing increased competition from South African Airways which had re-entered the Johannesburg-Gaborone market.

[46][47] The airline left the International Air Transport Association because of its inability to meet the December 2008 deadline of the IATA Operational Safety Audit,[48] but has since been re-admitted as a full member in 2012, under the leadership of the general manager, Sakhile Nyoni-Reiling.

[49] In December 2012, Nyoni-Reiling resigned, and press reports in May 2013 indicated internal conflicts and that two directors had been suspended for gross mismanagement pending investigations.

[50] In late 2015, Tshenolo Mabeo, the minister responsible for transport, sacked the then general manager Ben Dahwa together with his entire board of directors, following allegations of corruption.