Air Zimbabwe's woes cripple the tourism industry

Zimbabwe’s tourism industry is in trouble. As the country’s national airline, Air Zimbabwe, continues to falter tourists are finding alternative means of visiting some of the country’s biggest attractions, such as Victoria Falls. While Air Zimbabwe is consistently unable to provide domestic and international flights, visitors are opting to make travel arrangements with South Africa and Zambian tour operators. The result is that foreign airlines and package deals get most of the revenue while Zimbabwe has to be content with the few nights that tourists might stay at their some local hotels.

Air Zimbabwe has had a torrid few months. Pilots and staff went on strike in March, demanding that the airline pay them their full salaries. The company had to appeal to the government for a significant loan to get its pilots back to work. In April it was suspended by the International Air Transport Association for unpaid fees amounting to $280 000. In early June it had to cancel international flights after fuel suppliers insisted on being paid up-front until it had paid debts amounting to $1.5 million. Then its fleet of Boeing 737s was grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe because they were deemed unsafe for transport. In late June Zambezi Airlines reclaimed a plane that it had loaned to Air Zimbabwe after it was unable to pay the $400 000 leasing fee. In early July Air Zimbabwe had to arrange for passengers booked on a flight to Bulawayo to travel by bus – also related to the grounding by civil aviation authority.
Now hotel and tour operators are pleading with the government to consider relinquishing its tight control on Zimbabwe’s skies and allow airlines other than Air Zimbabwe to manage the massive air transport needs. According to Chipo Mtasa, ex-president of the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism, operators have had to hire charters to ensure that visitors who had already booked holidays were not disappointed. Mtasa, who is currently the CEO of Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG), said, "We've lost business as an industry. Domestic connectivity is a nightmare. As RTG, we're fortunate in that we've been closed for renovations. But all other operators have lost business. I think we should stop concentrating on Air Zimbabwe. We're killing the industry. We need others players to come in."
Given that Air Zimbabwe has more than $100 million in debt hanging over its head, allowing other airlines to come in and pick up the transport slack seems only logical.