RSS 2.0 FeedJanuary Vol 29, Featured Articles, Business , Financial and Property Indaba, Takeoff Africa: Aviation and Travel Indaba
Aviation meltdown
Shock decline in nation's air industry due to mismanagement, corruption and incompetence
Zimbabwe's once-vibrant aviation industry has collapsed dramatically due to extended periods of poor government policy and management failures, leaving the state-owned Air Zimbabwe virtually buried under the rubble of disintegration.
Air Zimbabwe, technically insolvent and teetering on the brink of collapse, has been reduced to wreckage because of mismanagement, corruption and incompetence. Political interference has also contributed to the airline's failure.
Current efforts to privatise the airline or get a strategic partner to work with government have so far failed because of the company's high debt profile - Air Zimbabwe has a $64-million debt - and obsolete equipment, including aged aircraft.
After a series of strikes and court battles at Air Zimbabwe, the airline's chief executive Peter Chikumba was forced to resign with effect from January 1. This week MPs who sit on the parliamentary portfolio committee on transport warned that Air Zimbabwe would plunge into further trouble if the government insisted on freezing state subsidies to the airline.
Although government has been extending the airline a monthly lifeline of $3-million a month, the company made a $14-million loss in the first six months of 2009. The losses intensified to unprecedented levels last year.
The aviation industry decline and Air Zimbabwe's failure were worsened by the country's economic meltdown and the political crisis over the past decade which saw a number of banks and financiers withdrawing lines of credit to the industry.
Targeted Western economic sanctions also contributed to the problem.
The grim situation has resulted in a reduction of the volume of air and passenger traffic in and out of Zimbabwe by 80%. Local pilots and engineers have also been leaving the country in droves due to low salaries and poor working conditions to look for jobs elsewhere, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.
"The decline of the aviation industry has been very serious. For instance in 1988 there were 1206 active pilots in Zimbabwe, 380 active aircraft and high average traffic movements per day but now there are about 167 pilots, 65 aircraft and a very low traffic movements," say documents on the state of aviation, seen by the Sunday Times.
As a result of the decline, the routes between Zimbabwe and South Africa are now overwhelmingly dominated by South African airlines.
"The current Bilateral Air Service Agreement between Zimbabwe and South Africa allows each country to operate 65 flying frequencies per week using multiple airlines. Zimbabwe's two airlines (Air Zimbabwe and Fly Kumba) are only able to take 19 frequencies, while South Africa's three operators (South African Airways, South African Airlink and Comair) take up 56 frequencies. Therefore, South African airlines control 87% of the market," documents say.
In terms of revenue, South African airlines make $62.6-million a year on Zimbabwean routes, while Zimbabwe's struggling operators only get $9.4 million. Zimbabwe's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAZ) has admitted that its surveillance and communication systems are obsolete, making the country's airspace among the most dangerous in the world.
Aviation infrastructure has crumbled to the point where, last year, planes from Air Zimbabwe and South African Airways hit warthogs on the runways, damaging planes.
Aviation sector players are now pressing for urgent intervention to stem the decline.
The Commercial and General Aviation Association of Zimbabwe, which acts as a link between government and industry, last year wrote to Transport and Communications Minister Nicholas Goche raising grave concerns about the state of the aviation sector.
In the letter, the association's president, Nkosilathi Sibanda, warned the minister that the industry was "going through lean times and virtually limping". He said there was an urgent need to engage "regulatory and legislative authorities on the current dire state of affairs".
Sibanda raised a series of pressing aviation issues, including inconsistent government measures on its open skies policy, imposition of a ban on aircraft over 20 years old and the situation at CAAZ, particularly its regulatory framework, licensing of new players, conversion of foreign licences and examination of pilots.
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