Zimbawe to build Longest Runway in Africa to woe back airlines

Zimbawe to build Longest Runway in Africa to woe back airlines

Zimbabwe’s Harare International Airport will have the longest runaway in Africa following a major facelift aimed at luring back major airlines back into the country according to Zimbabwean officials. Zimbabwe's economic freefall that brought the country to its knees also drove airlines away from the country as the route became uneconomical due to a dip in tourist arrivals and trade.

The economy has been rebounding following a power-sharing agreement signed with the opposition and one of the sectors the administration has been keen onrevining is the the critical travel and tourism and industry.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) will spend US$5 million in the project that will be completed in December this year.

On completion the runway will be five kilometers long with a 30 year lifespan and is designed to accommodate the world’s largest airbus plane. “It will be among the world’s longest runway and the biggest in Africa,” Jerry Ndlovu, the airport director said.

South Africa’s biggest and busiest airport, OR International Airport in Johannesburg has a 4.4 km runway.

A total of 18 international airlines stopped flying into the country after the economic decline set in almost a decade ago. They include Lufthansa, Qantas, Austrian Airlines, Swissair, Air India, Air France and TAP Air Portugal, Egypt Air, Air Mauritius, Linhas Aereas de Mocambique, Air Namibia, Royal Swazi Airlines and Air Seychelles, Air Tanzania, Ghana Airways, Air Uganda and Air Cameroon.

The few airlines that remained faithful in Zimbabwe's hard times were Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airways, Kenya Airways amongst others.

Air France, Austrian Airlines, Egypt Air, Swiss Air, Bulgarian Airlines, Qantas, Emirates, KLM and Lufthansa have indicated that they are now ready to fly back into Zimbabwe.

Selling Air Zimbabwe would be a challenge given its financial state: Minister

Selling Air Zimbabwe would be a challenge given its financial state: Minister

Air Zimbabwe is in such shambles and its financial position so hopeless it would be difficult to find takers even if the government decided to offload it, a Zimbabwean cabinet minister has said.

State Enterprises and Parastatals minister Gorden Moyo on Wednesday told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on State Enterprises and Parastatal Management that finding an investor to buy the ailing airline was likely to prove a mammoth task.

Moyo was responding to a question by Chiredzi North MP, Ronald Ndava, a member of the Portfolio Committee chaired by Zvishavane-Runde MP, Lawrence Mavima, who had asked him to explain why his ministry was not disposing of loss-making parastatals that were draining the fiscus.

“There are certain entities where we think surely, government should be out of,” Moyo said.

“But it may not be easy to sell Air Zimbabwe right now even if you want to offload it because you may not find a taker because of its state,” he said.

Moyo however said the difficulties facing Air Zimbabwe were not unique to Zimbabwe as a lot other airlines around the globe were performing very poorly. He cited Zambia Airways as an example.

“It is not just Air Zimbabwe which is suffering — very few airlines are doing business and it might be a big problem to sell Air Zimbabwe. A lot of parastatals are faced with huge debts and this on its own makes our parastatals unattractive to suitors. To get investors investing in a shell is not easy because of this debt overhang,” Moyo said. Moyo indicated most of the equipment in the country’s parastatals was dilapidated and archaic. To get investors to inject funds into businesses that were going under was not easy.

“The fiscal space is also too constricted to inject capital or even expertise into these entities especially given the serious human capital flight Zimbabwe has suffered,” he said.

State Enterprises and Parastatal Management deputy minister Walter Chidakwa said the issue of marketability to suitors by ailing parastatals was affected by tariffs.

“The investor looks at prices in Zimbabwe and compares them with those in the world. He looks at whether he will be able to recover his investments and we end up in this dilemma,” said Chidakwa.