Struggling Zimbabwean national carrier Air Zimbabwe (UM) is confident about its ongoing IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) with its completion due at the end of February, in time for UM's anticipated roll out of new regional and possibly, international flights.
Air Zimbabwe acting chief executive officer Mr Innocent Mavhunga said the audit was progressing well but would not elaborate on any possible outcomes.
“The audit, which is still in progress, is set to be completed by the end of February,” he said. Mr Mavhunga, however, refused to shed more light on the audit processes. “We are not allowed to rush and conclude until the programme is finished. IATA does not permit us to talk to the media regarding the audit until the process is complete,” he said.
Source [The Herald]
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| Air Zimbabwe's other A320 with entire grounded fleet (TAAT) |
UM was suspended from IATA in May last year over unpaid dues and again in September for failing to comply with the Association's stringent Operational Safety Audits (IOSA) despite having been given a 90 day grace period.
In early January, Zimbabwe's Meteorological Services Department director, Amos Makarau, announced that his department had successfully met ICAO minimum safety standards, thereby allowing the country to continue handling intercontinental flights. The country beat a November 2012 deadline to
ensure all airport weather systems are certified by the International
Standards Organization (ISO).
Since relaunching in November last year, Air Zimbabwe has been restricted to the Harare - Bulawayo - Victoria Falls and Harare - Johannesburg routes despite having leased two Airbus A320s. Sources in Harare state that the delay in deploying the aircraft onto UM's limited network is due to there being no A320 qualified pilots present at the carrier (as opposed to the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe's (CAAZ) lackadaisicalness).
Air Zimbabwe is looking to resume flights to London Gatwick with a possible expansion to Lagos and Accra planned later in the year.
