Air Zimbabwe - An Opinion

Air Zimbabwe is the national airline for Zimbabwe. It is 100% owned by the government and has Harare International Airport as its hub. The airline flies to over 10 destinations on a weekly basis. It most popular route is Harare-London and Harare-Johannesburg.

Most Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe and abroad use Air Zimbabwe for reasons that essentially have nothing to do with patriotism. Air Zim (as it is also known in short) has generally had lower and competitive fares as compared to others such as South African Airways (SAA) for the same routes. During the days of the
Zimbabwe currency were business used only Zimbabwe dollars, Air Zim still accepted local currency which was difficult for many Zimbabweans to access. This made it popular.

The airline has enjoyed little peace during Zimbabwe's problems in the last 10 years of 2000 to 2010. It has consistently suffered losses running into millions of United States Dollars on an annual basis. In fact many times Air Zimbabwe has entered a business coma only to be saved by the government through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe which for many was obsessed with quasi-fiscal policy implementation.

The government of Zimbabwe jealously guards the airline. It is viewed in political circles as a strategic national investment. Discussions for its privatisation have been on and off for many years but all in all this has led nowhere. The office of the President of Zimbabwe makes frequent use of the airline. It is believed for security reasons the president does not fly in a private jet. He does not have one. This indeed is more for security than economic reasons judging by other reckless expenses incurred by government every year. In fact in 2009 the government spent US$26 million on foreign travel.

To the disappointment of the general traveling pubic the President has often commandeered the airline laden with private passengers to destinations they had not planned before proceeding to their destination. This has had a serious negative impact on the reputation of Air Zimbabwe. To this day the airline is associated with frequent flight cancellations, anytime anywhere.

Generally speaking the airline has a very questionable and poor strategic vision. In the last few years most of the MA60 aircraft [pictured] purchased from China were grounded due to ongoing technical problems. Most of its aircraft are aged and need immediate replacement. The current sanctions on Zimbabwe in the form of
access to credit lines due to a "high risk factor" have not helped the situation.

Despite all this Air Zimbabwe has an amazing outstanding safety record. Since 1980 the year of national independence in Zimbabwe from Britain, the Air Zim has not had any major accident. It has however experienced a number of turn-backs due to malfunctioning equipment. The most recent in 2009 was the accident that occurred on take-off of an MA60 flight to Bulawayo which ploughed into a head on wild pigs on the runway. As a side note, Harare International Airport has been in the media for animals on the runway, poor and sometimes malfunctioning runway lights at night. Twice SAA returned to Johannesburg after
failing to land due to bad lighting. The airport is run and managed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ).

Air Zim is a member of IATA and now issues only e-tickets to the traveling public. Due to Zimbabwe's economic situation in the last ten years the airline has not been able to establish meaningful partnerships with other airlines. Instead it has been working on surviving and recently sought to cut staff by up to 700 including pilots.

Air Zimbabwe will need to invest in modern well known aircraft brands such as Boeing and Airbus. The pursuit for Asian and Russian made aircraft will not improve the company's competitiveness on an increasingly sensitive air travel market. Consumers are increasingly aware of which aircraft manufacturers tick and safety comes fight for most travellers.

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