Zimbabwe’s troubled national carrier has managed to settle a $2,8-million debt owed to a navigation agency and will resume flights to London later this week, reports said on Monday.
Air Zimbabwe abruptly halted flights to London last week over fears its plane would be impounded over the unpaid debt.
The state-controlled Herald newspaper said the airline has managed to settle its debt to the Agency for the Safety of Aerial Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (Asecna).
”We have paid the money we owed. This means the money should start reflecting in our creditor’s bank accounts by Tuesday, so flights will resume on Wednesday evening,” Air Zimbabwe spokesperson David Mwenga said.
Lawyers for Air Zimbabwe had advised the company not to fly to London after Asecna won a court order allowing it to impound a plane, forcing some travellers to change flight plans.
The London flight is a popular one with many Zimbabweans because Air Zimbabwe is the only airline that allows payment in local currency. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans are estimated to have left for Britain — the former colonial power — in the past six years, as Zimbabwe’s economic and social crisis has steadily worsened.
Mwenga insisted no passenger was seriously inconvenienced by the suspension of flights.
”We have transferred some of our passengers to British Airways today and others will travel with Air Zimbabwe to South Africa where they will connect to London with South African Airways,” he told the Herald.
”Quite a number have indicated that they will wait until Wednesday, so no passenger has been inconvenienced, really,” he added.
The Herald did not say where Air Zimbabwe got the foreign currency from to settle its debt. Zimbabwe’s central bank recently indicated it would not be able to dish out money freely to underperforming parastatals like Air Zimbabwe, prompting the carrier to hike tariffs by between five and six times. — Sapa-dpa