The Sunday Mail
Africa Moyo
GOVERNMENT is making an audacious bid to reposition nation carrier Air Zimbabwe which of late has been bogged down by a debilitating debt and an ageing fleet.
Recruitment of “quite a number” of pilots is currently underway while old staffers are being retrained to suit the new operational structure of the State enterprise.
Both the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Dr Joram Gumbo, and Air Zimbabwe chief executive officer Captain Ripton Muzenda confirmed to The Sunday Mail Business last week that they are presently shopping for pilots as part of efforts to refresh the airline.
“We need pilots . . . we need a decent number to meet the required service levels,” said Cpt Muzenda.
Of the 50 pilots that used to serve Air Zimbabwe in 2011, it is understood 35 remain.
Part of Air Zimbabwe’s revival is premised on finding a technical partner and purchasing new state-of-the-art long-haul aircrafts.
Management is also mulling resuming the lucrative London-Harare route which it abandoned in 2012 after one its Boeing 767s was impounded at Gatwick Airport in London, England over a US$1,2 million debt owed to a US parts supplier.
New planes
According to Dr Gumbo, negotiations for the acquisition of new aircraft are progressing well.
He however put paid to market speculation that Government had concluded the acquisition of four B777-200 planes from Malaysia.
“No, we haven’t bought any new aircrafts; it’s just some crazy people saying so,” he said.
“At the moment I am actively involved trying to resuscitate Air Zimbabwe as has already been directed by Cabinet. Cabinet ordered me to look for partners to team up with Air Zimbabwe and I am still negotiating the partnerships.
“Some of the negotiations are at an advanced stage and a statement will be issued shortly when everything has been put in place.”
About 12 top international airlines including Ethiopian Airlines, Angolan Airlines and Emirates have been linked to Air Zimbabwe.
The Sunday Mail Business understands a deal a presently being stitched up with Malaysian partners.
Dr Gumbo said: “In preparation for the resuscitation of Air Zimbabwe, we are now looking for pilots and we are also training our staff, those at work are being retrained for them to discharge their duties diligently because some of them leave a lot to be desired.
“So there is a total relook at the operations, from staff, management to equipment, which is the aeroplanes. Yesterday, (Wednesday) I was at the (Harare International) Airport and some of the pilots we had were saying that the number of hours they should be flying was up and they couldn’t fly anymore. . .
“You must understand that many pilots left employment at Air Zimbabwe given the bad state of affairs at the national airliner in the recent past and went to other airlines. So it is all these things that I look at.”
Name change
Speculation is rife Air Zimbabwe will ditch its old name in favour of a new one — Zimbabwe Airways — as part of measures to freshen up.
It is believed that there has been a lot of reputational damage to the old brand.
Air Zimbabwe debts are estimated at more than $334 million.
Dr Gumbo indicated last week that the name Zimbabwe Airways, if it was to be adopted, was actually registered a “long time ago, probably around 2011/12”.
He said there was no regulation that a national airline should operate under one name, and cited South Africa which has South African Airways (SAA) and South African Airlink (SA Airlink).
“People should not say that (we are trying to avoid creditors): its mere speculation. The owner of the baby shall speak, why should people want to be seized with discussing about a baby before its birth?
“In any case, having a new name is not an issue,” explained Dr Gumbo.
