Sacked Air Zim CEO rebounces, promises to revive s...

Sacked Air Zim CEO rebounces, promises to revive struggling airline

Air Zimbabwe's Airline Food Leaves The Country Divided

Five years after having been sacked from the helm of Air Zimbabwe, IR Zimbabwe (AirZim) acting chief executive officer (CEO)Acting CEO Edmund Makona has spoken about an optimistic strategy aimed at revamping the fortunes of the national carrier.

It includes bringing back into the air two grounded Boeing 767s jetliners into operation.

Makona returned to take charge of the troubled operation within the same days when the airline was flighting adverts for a substantive CEO.

He said along with repurposing the jetliner, AirZim would be exploring the possibility of relaunching flights into some of the world's most lucrative destinations.

The State-owned carrier is currently operating a 50-seater Embraer ERJ145 that serves Harare, Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, and Johannesburg.

The airline also operates the 105-seater Boeing 737 on the Harare-Dar es Salaam route.

"The next phase is to look at the fleet that we have from a strategic standpoint and utilise most of our assets.

"We are going to bring one of our Boeing 767s to specifically focus on cargo. This service should be available at least within the next two months, if not less."

He said AirZim's recovery plan would revolve around a four-pillar approach with an emphasis on developing route networks, finances, human capital and equipment.

"I want the nation to know that we are going to grow sustainably. We are taking a crawl, walk and run approach. However, there are also low hanging fruits. We are looking at London and Harare-Beijing. We would definitely focus on those routes. They realise an immediate return on investment.

"The real strategy is pillared on consolidating both the domestic and regional network, which would then feed into the international network," he said.