Air Zimbabwe resumes London flights

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AIR Zimbabwe has resumed servicing its domestic, regional and international routes but management says the national airline would only be able to operate normal flight schedules by end of October.

The national airline used to fly to Johannesburg two times daily. Currently, it is flying into South Africa four times a week as it is battling to attract passengers.

This month an Air Zimbabwe plane flew from Victoria Falls to Harare with a single passenger.

Air Zimbabwe’s acting group chief executive officer, Innocent Mavhunga, yesterday said flights to London resumed on Sunday while those to China begun on Friday last week.

Apart from Johannesburg, Air Zimbabwe has also resumed flights to Zambia (Lusaka) and the DRC (Lumbumbashi).

“We are servicing all our domestic routes. We are providing flights to Bulawayo two times everyday and Victoria Falls four times a week. A flight to China started on Friday and London yesterday (Sunday),” he said.

Mavhunga said flights were being resumed cautiously.

“We cannot deploy all schedules at once as the planes will fly without passengers. We are building on confidence and we hope to service all our flight schedules by end of October,” he said.

Recently, Mavhunga said it would take over six months for the airline to restore confidence among passengers.

Mavhunga said the volume of customers would determine flight schedules. He also confirmed that one of the three grounded Air Zimbabwe Boeing 737-200 was now flying.

The three short-haul planes were grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe over airworthiness concerns.

The planes had outlived their 20-year lifespan, prompting CAAZ to order their suspension.

“We are dealing with them one by one. Currently, one is flying. Another one is expected in the air in two weeks time,” Mr Mavhunga said.

It is the Boeing 737-200 that took the Zimbabwe delegation led by Vice President Joice Mujuru to Zambia for the inauguration of the country’s new leader President Michael Sata on Friday last week.

It has not been well for Air Zimbabwe this year as the airline has been affected by endless strikes over non-payment of salaries and allowances.

This has soiled Air Zimbabwe’s image and some of its customers now prefer foreign airlines even though they are more expensive when compared to the national airline.

Air Zimbabwe is also facing serious cash flow problems and its debts are believed to be over US$100 million

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