Air Zimbabwe has announced plans to lease the aircraft that was received from Malaysia recently citing the shortage of pilots and finances to operate the aircraft.
The plan was revealed by Air Zimbabwe’s acting Chief Executive Joseph Makonese on Friday when he appeared before the Public Accounts Parliamentary Committee chaired by Tendai Biti on Friday to give oral evidence on the parastatal. Makonese said:
For the B777, we took delivery of one B777, which is in the country from Malaysia. It is at our hangers.
Our plan is to lease the aircraft because we do not have finances and human capital to operate the aircraft at the moment.
Makonese added that an Embraer ERJ 145 which is also owned by the airline was grounded for routine maintenance checks for the next two weeks adding that there were delays due to foreign exchange control issues.
When the airline took delivery of the B777 from Malaysia last year, there were hopes that Air Zimbabwe was finally getting off its knees after a prolonged period of time operating one plane.
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