Air Zimbabwe battles to pay salaries, again.

salaries amid indications the employees were only given half salaries last month.
Acting Air Zimbabwe chief executive Mr Innocent Mavhunga, yesterday confirmed the development and cited cash flow problems.
“Yes, they (workers) will continue to get half salaries. It is nothing new,” Mr Mavhunga said.
Last year, Air Zimbabwe paid its workers half salaries for several months, a development that saw arrears ballooning beyond its capacity to pay.
Yesterday Mr Mavhunga did not rule out a repeat of the same situation, adding that there was nothing the airline could do.
“Naturally, we will end up in such a situation again. We have cash flow problems at the moment,” he said.
Sources at Air Zimbabwe told The Herald yesterday that tension was rising between management and workers.
The workers are arguing that they need to pay fees for their children ahead of schools opening for the second term next week.
Management says its coffers are dry because of the monthlong industrial action by pilots that was resolved recently when Government chipped in with US$4 million.
Management met the workers’ representative on Wednesday and explained its position.
The workers later met yesterday to map the way forward.
“We were given half salaries in April and management has made it clear that it does not have money at the moment to give us our full salaries.
“Management says the strike by the pilots worsened the cash flow problems faced by the company,” a reliable source said.
The workers suspect that the half salaries given to them as part of their April salaries were taken from the US$4 million the airline received from Government to settle outstanding salaries.
Of the US$4 million, pilots were given US$2 million, engineers US$1 million with workers on the general payroll getting US$1 million.
The development comes a day after Londonbound Air Zimbabwe passengers were left stranded when their flight was cancelled after the national airline reportedly failed to raise money to buy fuel.
The traditional suppliers – BP and Total – reportedly refused to give Air Zimbabwe fuel until it settled its debt.
It is believed that Air Zimbabwe owes the two companies over US$1 million.
But Mr Mavhunga yesterday dismissed the reports, citing operational challenges as the reason for the London plane’s delay. He said other regional routes were not affected and were running normally.
Asked what operational problems the airline was facing, Mr Mavhunga said: “We decided to combine loads because the loads to London are low. They are low because we are just coming from a strike and we are trying to optimise.”
Air Zimbabwe is facing a number of challenges that are threatening its smooth operations.
It is saddled with a US$100 million debt and has struggled to pay its workers for the past few years, leading to industrial actions by the disgruntled employees.
The situation has been compounded by the decline in business with its routes falling from 25 to the current seven.
Air Zimbabwe is incurring heavy loses on all routes.
Towards the end of 2010, the national airline suffered average monthly losses of US$2,5 million.
The situation worsened this year with the average monthly losses surging to US$3,4 million due to an increase in fuel costs against a decline in the load factor.