Mugabe arrived in New York on Saturday and is accompanied by several ministers drawn from both ZANU-PF and MDC.

Jonathan Kadzura, board chairman of Air Zimbabwe confirmed that they had managed to entice some of the pilots to fly the President.

''The pilots are still on an industrial action and we are still discussing with them,” Kadzura said. “We made plans for the president to leave as we have managed to secure a cabin crew to fly him to the UN meeting in the USA.''

Pilots at the national carrier embarked on an industrial action some two weeks ago demanding payment of allowances that were scrapped in February.

The Kadzura board gave the pilots an ultimatum to return to work weeks ago, but none of the pilots has headed the call.

After the UN meeting, Mugabe is expected to travel to Quito, where he is expected to be awarded with an Honorary Doctorate in Civil law from an Anglican Church-run University of the province of Ecuador

By Zimonline