Air Zimbabwe To Lease Out Its 'New' Planes

Air Zimbabwe is set to lease two Boeing passenger planes acquired from Malaysia pending reintroduction of direct flights to China and London, the troubled airline’s administrator Reggie Saruchera of Grant Thornton has said.

Saruchera revealed that nine companies have expressed interest to lease the two Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, which have a carrying capacity of 282 passengers each. He said:

The national airline will be leasing out the two Boeing 777-200ER aircraft in the immediate, pending re-introduction of international flights to China and London after developing a robust domestic and regional route network.

During the lease period, the airline will embark on training of flight crew, maintenance and ground handling personnel.

Saruchera added that the national airline plans to buy an additional narrow-bodied aircraft using proceeds from the lease of the two Boeing 777-200ER aircraft.

Air Zimbabwe was placed under reconstruction in October 2018 to allow it to clear its debts understood to be more than US$35m to foreign creditors and ZWL$260m locally.

More: Business Times