Impounded Air Zim plane scheduled to arrive

Zimbabwe: The Air Zimbabwe plane which was impounded in London over a $1,5 million debt owed to United States-based American General Supplies (AGS), is now scheduled to arrive in the country on Sunday.

The plane had been scheduled to arrive today after the government settled the debt.

The plane which was supposed to leave yesterday is said to have developed a technical fault that needed attention.
Acting Air Zimbabwe chief executive officer Innocent Mavhunga confirmed the latest development saying: “We are still working on the aircraft and other logistics too so that the plane will leave as soon as possible. We are in the process of arranging that. The plane will leave after clearance.”
Sources at the airline said they had been advised aircraft had not yet been fixed because the spares had been bought outside the United Kingdom and are yet to arrive.
“We have been advised that the spares will now arrive in the UK from the US yesterday afternoon due to delays in movement of money transfers hence the Thursday hangar slot is lost,” said the source.
“The plane will now be repaired on Friday evening on the only first available slot. UK Civil Aviation Authority will inspect it on Saturday and hopefully it will be certified to depart arriving here on Sunday.”
AGS impounded Airzim’s Boeing 767-200ER at Gatwick International Airport last Monday over the overdue debt. The Transport ministry sourced the money for the beleaguered airline which has struggled to pay its workers for the better part of this year.
After the plane was impounded, many passengers had to be rerouted and others reimbursed while many more were booked into hotels where some of them were later thrown out after the airline failed to pay for their accommodation, but Mavhunga dismissed the allegations.

Zimbabwe airline plane temporarily hold over debt

Zimbabwe: Air Zimbabwe says some flights to South Africa won't take off because of a dispute over debts owed to ground handlers who temporarily hold an aircraft at Johannesburg's main airport.

Air Zimbabwe head Innocent Mavhunga on Tuesday described the incident at the Johannesburg airport as "another operational challenge."

Witnesses said a ground handling firm blocked the Boeing 737-500 aircraft with vehicles on Friday to demand unpaid debts of nearly $500,000. They said it took seven hours to take baggage to the terminal in private cars after many passengers walked across the airport.

Once-daily flights to Johannesburg are scheduled for Friday and Sunday

Long haul flights to Europe and Asia were canceled last week by shortages of gasoline.

Air Zimbabwe Refere Three Options to Local Passengers

EMBATTLED national airline, Air Zimbabwe, which is struggling to service its routes is now booking passengers on buses to some of their local trips, it emerged this week.

Scores of passengers who were scheduled to fly to Bulawayo on Sunday were left stranded after their flight was cancelled at the last minute due to operational challenges.

In a telephone interview on Monday, a spokesperson for Air Zimbabwe, who refused to disclose her name confirmed the cancellation of the flights and said they gave passengers three options.  The first option was to be booked in a bus that was supposed to leave Harare on Monday afternoon, the second one being to be rebooked for a Wednesday flight, while the last one was to have the passengers' money refunded.

"Our flight to Bulawayo on Sunday had to be cancelled due to operational challenges and we had to give the passengers three options.

“Those who were in a hurry were asked to use a bus on Monday afternoon, while others had their flights rebooked for Wednesday. Those who felt hard done by the move will have their money refunded," said the spokesperson.

One of the affected passengers, Mutare businessman Mr Isau Mupfumi, who was scheduled to fly to Bulawayo to attend to pressing commitments at his Senatar Tours, said  he was surprised to be told that the flight had been cancelled when he was  already at the airport.

"This is so inconveniencing because we had already made plans for meetings in Bulawayo, only to be told that the flight had been cancelled. When flights are cancelled the service provider usually pays for the passengers' accommodation while they wait for the next flight and this did not happen after Sunday's flight cancellation.

"Some of us we are in the public transport business and it was an insult for Air Zimbabwe to ask us to use buses to travel to Bulawayo. I could have even looked for the most comfortable bus among my fleet to take me to Bulawayo, but we opted to support our national airline, only to be repaid through this kind of service," complained Mr Mupfumi. Some of the passengers going to local routes like Bulawayo and Victoria Falls are first travelling to Johannesburg in South Africa and reconnect back to Bulawayo and Victoria Falls due to Air Zimbabwe's inconsistence.

Most passengers who opt for refunds have to wait for a little longer to have their money as the national airline takes time to avail the refunds.

"We do not pay refunds there and there and that is why we usually try to rebook our passengers in the next available flight," said the Air Zimbabwe spokesperson.

Air Zimbabwe strike news

Air Zimbabwe strike entered into its seventh day today Monday morning with endless in scene.
pilots had not yet returned to work demanding payment of their outstanding salaries and allowances estimated at around $9 million.
As a result, Air Zimbabwe had reportedly leased a private aircraft to fly the Harare-Johannesburg-Harare route as a stop-gap measure to ease pressure caused by the strike.
In a statement on Saturday, board chairperson, Jonathan Kadzura, said:
“Air Zimbabwe board and management wish to advise the public that whilst negotiations are still underway with our pilots to restore normal operations, we have resumed operations on the Harare-Johannesburg-Harare route and will be operating on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with normal timings until further notice.”
Kadzura urged striking pilots, who have been refusing to fly since last Tuesday, to go back to work while their grievances were being looked into.
“We can work out something when we are flying not when we are grounded. The business is not viable and the best we can do is going back to work and maybe restructure and work out how best we can come up with something for our workers.”
A similar strike by the pilots in September last year cost Air Zimbabwe around $3, 5 million.
The national airliner lost most of its senior pilots and engineers over the last few years who left the country for greener pastures.

Air Zimbabwe Pilots On Strike once again...

Harare-Zimbabwe- Air Zimbabwe pilots on Tuesday went on strike to protest against the nonpayment of their allowances.
The pilots downed tools on Tuesday morning and assembled at a car park at the national airline’s headquarters at Harare International Airport.

Informed sources told Radio VOP that the pilots had resorted to the industrial action to demand payment of their outstanding allowances, which haven’t been paid since last year despite promises by management which undertook to clear the outstanding payments.

“The airline owes us a lot. They haven’t fulfilled their pledge to pay us in full. So this is the only language that they can understand,” said a source.

The strike action resulted in the cancellation of an Air Zimbabwe flights to Johannesburg on Tuesday morning.

Air Zimbabwe board chairperson Jonathan Kadzura confirmed the strike and said the national airline had done nothing so far to avert or end the industrial action because it had no money to pay the pilots.

“It is the same old thing. Money, that I don’t have,” said Kadzura when reached for a comment by Radio VOP on Tuesday. Air Zimbabwe pilots went on strike last September demanding payment of their allowances.

Air Zimbabwe Suspend Flights To Johannesburg, South Africa

Harare, Zimbabwe - Troubled national airline, Air Zimbabwe, has been forced to suspend flights to Johannesburg amid reports that there are creditors waiting to attach the company’s aged planes.
Among the many creditors are Zimbabwean farmers who lost their land during the controversial land reform programme and a Germany bank.

The airline is struggling to pay off mounting debts totalling US$60 million. These include a huge wage and allowance bill owed to workers which resulted in several industrial actions last year, bringing the airline's operations to a halt.

On Tuesday the airline suspended all its fights to Johannesburg from Bulawayo, Harare and Victoria Falls. Passengers who were booked on the flights were transferred to Skylink Airways, British Airways and South African Airways.

Sources at Air Zimbabwe headquarters at the Harare International Airport told Radio VOP Wednesday that the Minister of Transport and Communications, Nicholas Goche travelled to South Africa to negotiate with the creditors.

“The Minister went to South Africa for negotiations and the management left on Tuesday and they both used South African Airways,” sources said.

However an official at Air Zimbabwe sought to down play the issue saying:“We no longer fly on daily basis to Johannesburg because of low business. It has been so bad and we have decided not to fly an empty plane,” said an official in the reservation department.

The Johannesburg routes are among the airline’s cash cow because of the huge volume of travellers on the route. Observers said the airline could have boosted its business particularly on the Bulawayo-Johannesburg route because of the recent halt by Fly Kumba which had been flying from Johannesburg to the country’s second city of Bulawayo.

The airline’s OR Tambo airport offices were on Tuesday closed and phones went unanswered.

Air Zimbabwe has a history of debts ranging from failure to pay salaries, operational costs such as fuel in foreign countries and surcharge costs. In 2008 it had to be bailed out by a local businessmen after British authorities threatened to attach a Boeing 767 for failing to pay 40 000 pounds in fuel costs.