By Paul Nyathi
President Emmerson Mnangagwa could see the national airliner, Air Zim shut down during his term in office.
Mnangagwa is flying in and out of the country using charted flights while the national airliner, Air Zimbabwe is on the verge of an imminent closure.
Air Zimbabwe, is reportedly operating with only two aircrafts out of a possible ten and with only four pilots who are all exposed to extremely long hours of work.
Sources within the airline indicated that the carrier is on the verge of an imminent closure as passengers have lost confidence in the airline which is battling with long delays and cancelled flights.
“Things are definitely not well within the company,” said a source at the company’s offices at Bulawayo airport.
“The company is currently operating with only two planes and four very disgruntled pilots who are working very long hours putting passengers at a serious risk,” said the source.
Last week the airlines had a six hour delay on a Harare to Bulawayo route when the pilots meant to take the plane refused to fly all claiming to be exhausted.
A junior less experienced pilot had to take the hour long flight at midnight when passengers had been waiting for six hours after checking in.
Commenting on a similar concern on state media on Tuesday, Air Zimbabwe spokesperson Tafadzwa Mazonde confirmed that the government run venture is facing problems acquiring spares for its fleet and is currently running well below capacity.
“It’s only the issue of equipment; if we had equipment we could deploy all the other planes. Right now we’ve got two big planes. As management we are mobilising resources and trying to engage people that can give us planes because the purchase of an aircraft is done as a joint effort between the company and Government as a major shareholder. We are working together on that front. Very soon we will be doing something,” said Mazonde.
Mazonde battled to dismiss confirmed speculations that the pilots were on a go-slow which resulted in the cancellation of flights.
“There is no go slow or strike which we as management have been told. Our pilots are actually working overtime considering their numbers. All things being equal they should be okay but the other pilots are there but their planes are not flying so as a result it puts a strain on those that are flying.
“An aeroplane is different from a bus where you can jump from an AVM into a Volvo,” said Mr Mazonde.
ZimEye.com sources disputed Mazonde’s statement indicating that the pilots were indeed on a job action with some very experienced ones intending to tender their resignations from the airline this week.
“The pilots are indeed on a serious go slow as they are giving themselves deliberate long resting hours between flights,” said the source.
“This will be confirmed by resignations from the company by some of the few pilots within the next few days,” said the source.
President Mnangagwa has himself snubbed the national carrier preferring to use chartered flights from privately owned airlines for his numerous trips using millions of dollars in the process.