Air Zimbabwe has curtailed its regional operations in the face of falling demand caused by the country's political unrest and faltering economy.
In a bid to cut costs, it has suspended several routes including Harare-Cape Town and Harare-Durban. Instead, Air Zimbabwe is only operating to Johannesburg in South Africa where its passengers transfer to flights operated by BA franchise carrier, Comair.
The Zimbabwe flag carrier says that all but two of its aircraft are operational, despite the chronic fuel shortage that has crippled Zimbabwe's industry and resulted in day-long queues for petrol, diesel, paraffin and kerosene. A Boeing 737-200 and a British Aerospace 146 are stored.
The airline's two Boeing 767-200ERs continue to operate its longer haul flights, although plans to lease more aircraft are shelved. "We were talking to Chinese carriers last December about leasing either Airbus A340-300 or Boeing 777 aircraft, but this is no longer the case," says the airline.
In line with other international carriers serving Harare, Air Zimbabwe has seen loads plummet as a result of publicity surrounding political unrest in the country. The airline admits that the unrest "has had an impact on us, but we expect our loads to recover to normal after the elections in June".
Source: Flight International
