WHY ZIM AIRWAYS PLANES ARE GROUNDED

The Government has no money to pay for the operating licence for Zimbabwe Airways planes. This was revealed by Transport Minister, Jorum G...

The Government has no money to pay for the operating licence for Zimbabwe Airways planes.

This was revealed by Transport Minister, Jorum Gumbo who said that one of the four long haul planes acquired from Malaysia, the Boeing 777-200ER, had only been taken back to Kuala Lumpur for routine maintenance.

“No plane ever had challenges. What happened is that when that aircraft came, we only got a ferry licence to bring it here with the hope that we were going to get more money from (RBZ Governor Dr John) Mangudya to pay for our licence fees. He could not pay our licence fees.

“When an aircraft is not flying, even if it has a new part, it has to be continuously maintained. But because we can’t fly it to South Africa or Kenya where it can be maintained, and because we can’t do it here, we then took it back where it can be maintained.

“So it is just there for maintenance because we have not obtained an operator’s licence.”
The Boeing 777-200ER, and three others, were purchased with a view to resume intercontinental flights.