Business / Companies
Staff exodus hits Air Zimbabwe
16 Oct 2015 at 07:19hrs | Views
NATIONAL airline, Air Zimbabwe (AirZim), has been hit by a staff exodus after regional carrier, fastjet Zimbabwe, which only got a licence last week, lured most of its pilots.
In the past few years, the crisis at AirZim, blamed on excessive State interference, has deepened, forcing it to offload over 1 000 staff, including top pilots and professional cabin crews. This undermined growth and stability.
The ambitious Tanzanian headquartered low cost airline fastjet, which announced last week that it had secured an air operating certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe for scheduled flights in the country, is said to have targeted AirZim's highly skilled personnel.
fastjet Zimbabwe confirmed last week that it had concluded "a very successful recruitment drive in Harare" and targets its staff in the country to rise to about 200 in the next few years.
"The airline expects to employ a similar number of staff as it has for three-year-old fastjet Tanzania, which now employs nearly 200 people directly, with hundreds more working in secondary services supporting it," it said.
fastjet's major coups included AirZim's flight operations director, Ed Lanca, one of the country's most experienced airman who has been drafted in the same capacity at the airline, which is ready to fly a couple of dry runs, crash existing competition and dominate the market.
A number of other pilots, crew and aviation professionals are reported to have joined fastjet, or are in the process of being drafted at fastjet Zimbabwe, although exact numbers could not be established this week.
Boosted by a £50 million equity funding injected in April this year by its shareholders, fastjet is executing an aggressive Pan African expansion across east, central and southern Africa.
As fastjet announced it would be kicking off three weekly frequencies into Victoria Falls this month on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, Lanca was among key executives who laid out the airline's strategy in the country.
"With our low-cost fares, fastjet Zimbabwe's aim is to make air travel more accessible than ever before, with many of our passengers expected to be first time flyers who would otherwise not have been able to afford to travel by air," he said in a statement.
"Affordable air travel is key to Zimbabwe's economic growth, particularly in the business and tourism sectors, and fastjet Zimbabwe, a Zimbabwean-registered company with a local board of directors, has worked closely with government and civil aviation stakeholders to bring low-cost air travel to Zimbabwe for this very reason. Very simply, fastjet Zimbabwe's goal is to make it possible for more Zimbabweans to fly, whether it be for business, visits to their friends and family, or enjoying leisure travel," said Lanca.
Tickets for the Victoria Falls route went on sale in Zimbabwe last week, as fastjet moved to make history by becoming the first foreign airline to be granted the green light to operate domestic flights in Zimbabwe in 35 years.
Despite a move towards an open skies policy, Zimbabwe had generally kept its airspace closed to domestic carriers in a bid to build a strong aviation industry system.
This has been shattered by the failure of government to recapitalise AirZim, which requires over US$200 million to turnaround.
But principally, government needs to purchase new and efficient airliners for the parastatal if it is to take on competition with a fleet of modern aircraft attractive to the modern day traveller.
Competition on the Harare-Victoria Falls route will be cutthroat once fastjet takes off in Zimbabwe on October 28, offering US$38 one way fares.
This will make even travel by road more expensive than flying in Zimbabwe, and will be a crowd puller to thousands of travellers.
Existing operators are charging more than US$340 for a return trip on the route.
fastjet's strategy appears to be targeting countries with weak airlines, among them Zimbabwe, where it has been issued with an air service permit by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, the parent ministry for AirZim, which has been struggling to raise capital.
In the past few years, the crisis at AirZim, blamed on excessive State interference, has deepened, forcing it to offload over 1 000 staff, including top pilots and professional cabin crews. This undermined growth and stability.
The ambitious Tanzanian headquartered low cost airline fastjet, which announced last week that it had secured an air operating certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe for scheduled flights in the country, is said to have targeted AirZim's highly skilled personnel.
fastjet Zimbabwe confirmed last week that it had concluded "a very successful recruitment drive in Harare" and targets its staff in the country to rise to about 200 in the next few years.
"The airline expects to employ a similar number of staff as it has for three-year-old fastjet Tanzania, which now employs nearly 200 people directly, with hundreds more working in secondary services supporting it," it said.
fastjet's major coups included AirZim's flight operations director, Ed Lanca, one of the country's most experienced airman who has been drafted in the same capacity at the airline, which is ready to fly a couple of dry runs, crash existing competition and dominate the market.
A number of other pilots, crew and aviation professionals are reported to have joined fastjet, or are in the process of being drafted at fastjet Zimbabwe, although exact numbers could not be established this week.
Boosted by a £50 million equity funding injected in April this year by its shareholders, fastjet is executing an aggressive Pan African expansion across east, central and southern Africa.
As fastjet announced it would be kicking off three weekly frequencies into Victoria Falls this month on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, Lanca was among key executives who laid out the airline's strategy in the country.
"Affordable air travel is key to Zimbabwe's economic growth, particularly in the business and tourism sectors, and fastjet Zimbabwe, a Zimbabwean-registered company with a local board of directors, has worked closely with government and civil aviation stakeholders to bring low-cost air travel to Zimbabwe for this very reason. Very simply, fastjet Zimbabwe's goal is to make it possible for more Zimbabweans to fly, whether it be for business, visits to their friends and family, or enjoying leisure travel," said Lanca.
Tickets for the Victoria Falls route went on sale in Zimbabwe last week, as fastjet moved to make history by becoming the first foreign airline to be granted the green light to operate domestic flights in Zimbabwe in 35 years.
Despite a move towards an open skies policy, Zimbabwe had generally kept its airspace closed to domestic carriers in a bid to build a strong aviation industry system.
This has been shattered by the failure of government to recapitalise AirZim, which requires over US$200 million to turnaround.
But principally, government needs to purchase new and efficient airliners for the parastatal if it is to take on competition with a fleet of modern aircraft attractive to the modern day traveller.
Competition on the Harare-Victoria Falls route will be cutthroat once fastjet takes off in Zimbabwe on October 28, offering US$38 one way fares.
This will make even travel by road more expensive than flying in Zimbabwe, and will be a crowd puller to thousands of travellers.
Existing operators are charging more than US$340 for a return trip on the route.
fastjet's strategy appears to be targeting countries with weak airlines, among them Zimbabwe, where it has been issued with an air service permit by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, the parent ministry for AirZim, which has been struggling to raise capital.
Source - fingaz
