Harare – The Zimbabwe government is reportedly set to acquire at least 15 aeroplanes as part of efforts to resuscitate the country’s struggling national airline, Air Zimbabwe.
According to state-owned Herald newspaper, the planes were set to be purchased from Malaysia.
The report quoted Transport and Infrastructure Minister, Joram Gumbo, as saying that the new planes were going to be bought through a public-private partnership.
Said Gumbo: “The Civil Aviation Authority is on the verge of acquiring 15 new air planes from Malaysia under a lease agreement. The deal was penned between government and a private company DIDG, a consortium of business partners from the diaspora.”
Gumbo said that the agreement would be renewed every five years. Air Zimbabwe was reeling under a $330m debt and its balance sheet was in a bad state, the report said. Gumbo admitted last month that the national airline was running “noisy aircraft’ and that it was “ailing”. The minister said at the time that Air Zimbabwe was “not doing very well”.
In May reports said that the airline and several other airlines were barred from flying to Europe over safety concerns.
With reports from News 24
