AirZim decides to lease aircraft

an official has said.
Transport, Communications and Infrastructure Development Permanent Secretary Mr Partson Mbiriri, yesterday said contrary to media reports that Airzim had purchased an Airbus A350, the national airline was assessing which planes to lease.
“Not every plane that lands at the Airport belongs to Airzim, it is true that the national airline needs new aircraft but neither Government nor Airzim has the resources to purchase them,” he said.
“What is happening is that Airzim is exploring and assessing the leasing route because it’s cheaper to lease than buy one when we don’t have the resources.”
Mr Mbiriri said since Airzim was assessing which planes to lease, it was inevitable that some planes would be seen at the Airport.
He said some companies would send their aircraft to Airzim to market them.
“Some of the vendors even go as far as painting the planes in Airzim colours as a marketing gimmick. “This has been happening over the years that I have been at the Ministry of Transport. Government is obviously determined to see the national airline continue flying the Zimbabwean flag,” Mr Mbiriri said.
He said the Airbus 350 with 150 seats that had been reported as having been bought by Airzim was just being assessed for leasing by the national airline.
Meanwhile State Enterprises and Parastatals Minister Gorden Moyo on Tuesday said Government would “ring fence” the $140 million debt, which the airline would repay when it becomes profitable.
Last year, Cabinet resolved to incur the over $140 million debt which would pave way for the restructuring of AirZim.
This also comes amid indications that the Cabinet Committee on the national airline has only met once despite several Cabinet directives.
MDC-T’s national council last year met and called on the Government to stop funding the national airline saying it would rather be shutdown.
Minister Moyo said Cabinet resolutions were policies that had to be implemented than party positions.
“The Cabinet position is what matters because it becomes a policy and that resolution (debt takeover) is awaiting implementation,” Minister Moyo said.
He said the decision to take over the debt was motivated by the need to make the airline’s balance sheet attractive to investors.
Minister Moyo said Cabinet resolved that Airzim should be restructured through a joint venture approach.
“Implementation of the restructuring is now in the hands of the Minister of Transport, Communications and Infrastructure Development (Nicholas Goche).
“The decision was that we are going to use the model of the Ethiopian Airways and the Kenyan Airways. It is up to the Minister of Transport to implement that decision,” he said.
Minister Moyo said Cabinet had instructed Finance Minister Tendai Biti to raise the funds for “right sizing” the workforce at the airline.
He said the delay to clear the debt was due to financial constraints at the Treasury.
Minister Moyo said Cabinet would also restructure the National Handling Services whose proceeds would be channelled towards recapitalisation of the national airline.
Minister Goche and Minister Moyo have the responsibility to finalise the restructuring exercise.
Minister Moyo said the restructuring documentation for NHS was ready to be presented in Cabinet for approval.
Cabinet, Minister Moyo said, also agreed that there was need to properly constitute the Airzim board and management.
“As we speak those people can’t make decisions on their own thus they keep referring most of the issues to the Ministry of Transport consequently leaving us with a kind of micro management of Airzim against the norms and values of corporate governance,” he said.
Zanu-PF and MDC say there is need for the national airline to be recapitalised so that it can be profitable while the MDC-T argues the solution lie with the shutting down of the airline.
Zanu-PF spokesperson, Cde Rugare Gumbo, said there was need for the Government to implement the Cabinet resolutions.
Airzim acting chief executive officer, Mr Innocent Mavhunga, recently said the national airline would resume the routes when the Cabinet resolutions are implemented.