Air Zim in liquidation?

[james ozzie]

Some press reports that the end of Air Zim has come, with one of the unions going for judgement/liquidation for unpaid wages.

Any more info?

[Insane]

Air Zimbabwe on final step to liquidation

By KITSEPILE NYATHI NATION Correspondent
Posted Sunday, January 22 2012 at 19:18

HARARE, Sunday

State- owned Air Zimbabwe has been placed under judicial management after its debt rose to $140 million leaving it facing possible liquidation.

On Friday, the High Court appointed a judicial manager and barred the Air Zimbabwe board from any involvement with the company after unpaid workers sought an intervention from the courts.
A lawyer representing the Air Zimbabwe workers, Mr Caleb Mucheche told the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper the High Court order was a prelude to the liquidation of the national airline.
He said the airline had failed to pay workers since January 2009 and had accrued arrears of up to $35 million by the end of last month.

“Since the court has appointed a judicial manager it means that this is a prelude to liquidation,” he said.
“The judicial manager will now move in and the current Air Zimbabwe board will have to step aside.

“The judicial manager will assess if Air Zimbabwe is still a going entity but as the way things stand all is not well, he is likely to recommend liquidation.

“That is the process. Whenever a judicial manager comes in, the next step is liquidation.”

Air Zimbabwe also owes millions of dollars to service providers and other supplies.

It was forced to suspend flights to London and Johannesburg early this month after two of its planes were impounded at South Africa’s OR International Airport and UK’s Gatwick Airport over debts.

Last week, the airline’s acting chief executive officer Mr Innocent Mavhunga wrote to President Robert Mugabe warning him that Air Zimbabwe faced serious viability problems.

“We wish to advise that the non-payment of salaries and other statutory obligations for the period in question has not been deliberate but rather a manifestation of underlying viability challenges that our company has been experiencing where we have even suspended international and regional flights with domestic flights having become erratic,” reads part of the letter.

[Tableview]

Air Zim flies with no passengers on board


Wednesday, 14 November 2012 10:57




HARARE - Air Zimbabwe has once again broken aviation records after the troubled airline flew an empty aircraft from Johannesburg to Harare upon the resumption of regional flights on Monday.

Insiders disclosed yesterday that Air Zimbabwe flew an empty Boeing 767-200 aircraft, one of its long-haul planes, which has a carrying capacity of 203 passengers on its evening return flight from South Africa after it had ferried five passengers to Johannesburg from Harare International Airport on its morning flight.

The airline cruised the Johannesburg-Harare route with nine flight crew aboard including two pilots only identified as Captain Jonasi and Murombedzi, the first flight officer, an engineer and six air hostesses.

The insiders said the embarrassing incident was a result of poor marketing by the troubled airline which on Monday resumed regional flights having suspended them in January after creditors threatened to seize the carrier’s aircraft over crippling debts.

Air Zimbabwe acting group chief executive officer Innocent Mavhunga could not be reached for comment yesterday as his mobile phone went unanswered.

This is not the first time that Air Zimbabwe has flown near-empty. In 2005, the national airline cruised between Dubai and Harare, with one passenger.

Last year, the airline ferried one passenger from Victoria Falls to Harare after landing in the resort town with 16 passengers on its Chinese-made MA60 aircraft from Harare.

Critics say years of mismanagement and interference by the government have nearly brought the airline to its knees.

Starved of cash for recapitalisation, Air Zimbabwe uses mostly old-fashioned technology and equipment while nearly all its planes are between 18 and 23 years old except for the Chinese-made Modern Ark (MA) 60. - Kumbirai Mafunda