Air Zimbabwe: Will have A380 soon...
 

Yes, the news of the week: Air Zimbabwe negotiates the delivery of a french owned A380

AirZim guns for A380 | The Financial Gazette ? Zimbabwe News

Well....

Surprisingly, this is not in Jet Blast and neither is it a Friday.....

I thought April Fools Day was in April

Extra capacity required for Grace's international shopping trips? Meanwhile, Nero's fiddling continues while Rome burns...

You can just see it ..... Taxis up to terminal , scaffolders await , take 2 hours to build a ' bridge ' .......needs more fuel than Zimbabwe has in stock , take dollars off pax for the gas ......Should be fun .

Possibly an A340 would be on the cards rather than an A380. A 340 has low resale value and is in little demand on the second hand market. Someone owning one might be prepared to take a chance a lease it to a customer with a bad credit record instead of having it sit around racking up parking charges.

There is a large number of Zimbabweans living in the UK many of which would like to visit their families. A direct flight may be preferable to a transit via Nairobi, Addis or Johannesburg.

With the worst of the farm invasions and hyper inflation in the past, and the (US)dollarisation of the economy, the country could soon be back where it was twenty or thirty years ago. Emirates have started flights to Harare via Lusaka so obviously they see some potential.

KLM have also started flights to HRE. Whilst they may see some potential, it further dilutes the revenue that Air Zimbuggered might pick up if they resumed a route to Europe.

Wondering what this 'journalist' has been smoking :

Putting 2 and 2 together and probably coming to 5 or 6, and also shooting in the dark.

Does anyone know what has happened or is happening to the two all cattle class, A380's that Air Austral, of Reunion, had on order?

Could AA be in such desperate states to risk leasing one of these two a/c to Zim Air?

Neither HRE nor LGW can handle the A380 at present.

I'm sorry, but that is wishful thinking. Maybe if Bob kicks the bucket soon and they give all the land back to the farmers who actually meant something, but we all know that aint happening.

An airliner with a single engine which apparently contains 150 pax. Where do they sit? Inside the the turbine or just hanging onto the accessory case?
Wouldn't it be kinder to give them seats - it must be bloody hot and noisy riding inside a jet engine, you'd think the complaints would drown out the engine noise .
What do they put in the fuselage - or is this redundant and we just have a pax-filled engine, wings and wheels? For god's sake don't tell the poison dwarf.

Oh for journos with language skills...

So what?

Lets not bring pertinent facts into the thinking.

Actually Air Austral ordered only one A380, S/N 129 with delivery 2014

Some sources say 2 ordered and 2 cancelled.

Air Austral Cancels Orders for 840-Seat A380s: Report at NYCAviation

Well, planespotters says it has one on order with delivery 2104. Possibly another one with a later delivery.

Airbus said in March 2013:
http://www.airbus.com/presscentre/pr...sh&docID=29303

Only in Africa :ugh::ugh:

Mycall, read it again, the quote states exactly what I described.

It was just an illustration of how sloppy construction can say something that was probably not intended. If you choose to assume they meant something other than what was written that's up to you, but it can only be an assumption.
Its a good example of how "reports" in the media can turn into utter misleading nonsense even when no subterfuge was intended.

QUOTE]Neither HRE nor LGW can handle the A380 at present./QUOTE]

Wrong! Stand 110 at LGW is set up for A380 Flights and has handled Emirates and Lufthansa A380's so far!

Air Zim
 

Gentlemen, please, let's get real. This report was in the Financial Gazette. There's a good chance the reporter doesn't know the difference between a Boeing and an Airbus, let alone between different types. We know ('cos it's our business to know) that an A-380 is a specific type. Shame Mukoshori was quoting an AirZim spokesman who certainly should know better, but clearly doesn't - or is so arrogant that he doesn't care that he's spouting b-s to the masses. Like so much in Zim, just because someone says something is going to happen doesn't mean it is going to happen.

A couple of years ago there was a fair amount of chatter that, once re-capitalised, Air Zim might pick up an A-340 or two - as Metro Man noted above, they are pretty cheap at the moment. There was talk of two cancelled Kingfisher A-340's being painted in AirZim colours at Toulouse, and even some photos around. But the only way that would happen is if the Chinese diamond miner profits are used to fund it.

Another recent report said they are relaunching HRE-LGW in time for the Christmas rush. Again, believe it when you see it.

Airzim is running a smoke and mirrors operation. They have a wet-lease A320 to take the big Chiefs to Joburg and around the continent for conferences (basically it's a Presidential jet which flies scheduled flights when the Boss doesn't need it), and they're keen to have at least one or two other a/c in the air before and during the UN World Tourism Conference at Vic Falls in July. Beyond that, they are bankrupt, overstaffed and incompetently managed, and until that changes, all they can do is talk the talk and hope someone believes them enough to fund some legs so they can walk the walk again.

Really? Isn't it strange then that the A320 is flying schedules 7 days a week between HRE and JNB?
They also have a wet leased ERJ145 flying for them and it is pretty busy and apparently the pax loads are close to full on all the routes.

I am sure if they turn around their perceived public image, they could grow once again. A380 maybe not, possibly an A330.