Sunday, July 22, 2012

► ZIMBABWE: Air Zimbabwe Operations & General Aviation Update.

Zimbabwe
Over the last 3 weeks or so, we have been in Zimbabwe for business and had the chance to pay Air Zimbabwe and the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) a visit to try and try get some updates on the status of Air Zimbabwe (UM) as well as other general info. After all, the interwebs has been filled with vast amounts of speculation and conflicting reports on Air Zimbabwe's status and murky dealings all of which make it very difficult to get an accurate picture of what is really going on there.

This is what we were told by our sources:
  • Air Zimbabwe is still flying domestically, albeit using its aging Boeing 737-200Adv fleet to service Harare - Victoria Falls and Harare - Bulawayo. According to our sources, loads have picked up (which is no surprise seeing as there is no other competition on the routes). Harare - Vic Falls costs USD$400 return (lol).

Air Zimbabwe 737 at Harare
An AirZim 737 awaiting its flight to Bulawayo (24 June 2012)
  • Air Zimbabwe has indeed received a second A320 as previously reported by us. The two aircraft are now awaiting CAAZ registration before entering service, though where to, is still unknown. Also, the mysterious deal for two Airbus A340-500s that never was, came up quite often. Seems the deal is somehow "still in the offing" (make of that what you will, but we will believe it when we see it) though how much of that is truth and how much is pure BS is anyone's guess.
Unknown BAe146s at Harare
Two unknown BAe146s laid up at HRE (possibly Air Zim's)
So there you have it folks. Make of it what you all will, but bear in mind that what a pencil pushing bureaucrat says and what actually happens are usually two completely different things.