Air Zimbabwe flies back to Harare with one passenger

Air Zimbabwe flew back to Harare from Victoria Falls with one passenger on Sunday when it resumed flights after a two-month stoppage.

The troubled airline grounded its planes at the end of July when pilots went on strike demanding unpaid salaries and allowances. Acting chief executive officer, Innocent Mavunga on Friday had said the flights would resume after the airline secured a $2.8 million rescue package from the government.

But there were indications customers had lost confidence in the airline after it took 15 passengers from the capital to the resort town of Victoria Falls only to return with one passenger. It was using the MA60 plane, which normally carries over 60 passengers.

But Mr Mavhunga told the state owned Herald that there was nothing amiss about the flight that carried one passenger. “There is nothing unusual about that,” he said “We have not been operating for the past two months and we only resumed on Friday. We are looking at three to six months to resume normal loads.

Clients often book flights way in advance, so we cannot expect an overnight change in the situation.” Domestic flights had failed to take off on Friday as expected because there were no passengers. The Harare-Johannesburg flights, which were supposed to resume on Monday were deferred to Wednesday.

Source: Zimbabwe

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