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Photo: The Herald
Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Development, Dr. Joram Gumbo
By Africa Moyo
The government claims that one of the four long-haul aircraft acquired from Malaysia, the Boeing 777-200ER, has no mechanical problems and has been brought back to Kuala Lumpur for routine maintenance, which is a prerequisite even if it does not fly.
The planes have a strict maintenance regime, unlike vehicles, and these checks can only be made locally or on the mainland – since the plane does not have a license to do so. operating for Kenya or South Africa, it was decided to return it to Malaysia using the ferry permit obtained upon its first delivery to Harare.
Infrastructure Development Minister Dr. Joram Gumbo told The Herald Business last week that contrary to media reports that the aircraft had returned for routine maintenance.
"No plane has ever had a challenge, and what happened is that when this plane arrived, we only got a ferry permit for the aircraft. bring here with the hope that we would receive more money from (the governor of the RBZ, John) Mangudya to pay our license fees.He could not pay our license fees, "said the Dr. Gumbo.
"When a plane does not fly, even if it has a new piece, it has to be maintained permanently, but because we can not ship it to South Africa or Kenya where it can be maintained, and because we can not do it here, we have taken it back where it can be maintained.
Maintenance because we did not get a license
The Boeing 777-200ER, and three others, were purchased in order to resume intercontinental flights.
The planes were to be operated by Zimbabwe Aviation and Leasing ZALC will operate the aircraft under the name of Zimbabwe Airways, a new national debt-free airline, which was registered in 2009.
The government established Zimbabwe Airways to avoid more planes to be seized in 2011 by debtors at Gatwick International Airport.
In 2011, the Air Zimbabwe Boeing 767-200 bearing the inscription "Victoria Falls" was seized by American General Supplies at the landing at Gatwick International Airport. million debts for spare parts.
Howeve Due to a significantly changed political environment following the arrival of the new administration headed by President Mnangagwa, the threat of seeing the planes impounded fades due to the reengagement process already started.
Dr. Gumbo believes Today, Air Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Airways are grouped together under one committee, but operationally, the first will focus on regional routes while the second will be intercontinental.
Air Zimbabwe plans to operate only two aircraft. optimally play the role of bringing passengers to Harare from the region for them to be transported to European, Asian and American destinations by Zimbabwe Airways.
"Zim Airways was created because of the previous situation, but now because of the new exemption, we have to standardize it, and now that we have reengaged and we are reengaging everyone, there is ZALC needs more because the owner of the company we call Zim Airways is the government.To operationalize it all, we have now stated that Air Zimbabwe and Zim Airways must operate under one board and that we remove ZALC
"On their daily operations, Air Zimbabwe – because of the type of equipment available to it It must now focus on regional operations and we must also provide more equipment to Air Zimbabwe for him to mop passengers from Johannesburg, Gaborone, Lusaka, Kinshasa, DRC, Malawi, Maputo, Windhoek, among others, as we did in the past. "
Z imbabwe Airways needs $ 137,000 to obtain a license to operate. It is expected to get one when the balance of about $ 25 million has been paid.
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