News / International
Air Zimbabwe passengers still stranded at Gatwick airport
15 Dec 2011 at 23:37hrs | Views
SW Radio Africa presenter Ezra Sibanda is one of the stranded passengers.
Harare bound Air Zimbabwe passengers were on Thursday still stranded at UK's Gatwick airport. The plane had been seized at the airport on Monday over an unpaid debt, but passengers had still been allowed to check in and have been stranded ever since.
Anger towards the national airline increased as the Christmas travel plans of over a hundred passengers were ruined. Tensions erupted anew as passengers demanded answers, after their hopes of flying out on Thursday were dashed.
The airline's chairman had said the debt and been settled and this gave passengers the impression the plane would be released immediately and allow them to fly to Harare. Jonathan Kadzura told the AFP news agency in Harare that government had raised $1.5 million to pay off the national airline's debt and have the impounded Boeing 767 released. The long haul aircraft was seized by spare supply company, American General Supplies on Monday.
SW Radio Africa presenter Ezra Sibanda is one of the stranded passengers. He told us passengers had nominated him and another man to approach Air Zimbabwe officials at Gatwick to seek answers.
'I think whilst people are obviously deeply upset about the inconvenience, particularly at this time of year, of having their travel plans disrupted, most of what I am hearing is a sense of outrage about the way they have been treated since Monday,' Sibanda said.
He added that the passengers were claiming that Air Zimbabwe did not do enough to help them and are demanding compensation. He confirmed tempers were fraying at the airport after the airline left the passengers on Wednesday to scramble to find alternative flights, or temporary accommodation, on their own.
Sibanda said it was the complete lack of communication and notification from the airline that has left many passengers in limbo regarding accommodation and, more importantly, knowing when they would fly out to see their families in Zimbabwe.
David Mwenga, the airline's Europe manager, told us the company had done its best to find ccommodation for the stranded passengers.
'Today (Thursday) we have managed to book them into a five star hotel, hoping that everything will be sorted out soon,' Mwenga said.
SW Radio Africa – on line 24 hours a day at www.swradioafrica.com and daily broadcasts on 4880 kHz in the 60m band between 7 - 9 pm Zimbabwe time. Twitter : Facebook : RSS feed You can now get SW Radio Africa on the Tunein Radio smart phone app.
Anger towards the national airline increased as the Christmas travel plans of over a hundred passengers were ruined. Tensions erupted anew as passengers demanded answers, after their hopes of flying out on Thursday were dashed.
The airline's chairman had said the debt and been settled and this gave passengers the impression the plane would be released immediately and allow them to fly to Harare. Jonathan Kadzura told the AFP news agency in Harare that government had raised $1.5 million to pay off the national airline's debt and have the impounded Boeing 767 released. The long haul aircraft was seized by spare supply company, American General Supplies on Monday.
SW Radio Africa presenter Ezra Sibanda is one of the stranded passengers. He told us passengers had nominated him and another man to approach Air Zimbabwe officials at Gatwick to seek answers.
'I think whilst people are obviously deeply upset about the inconvenience, particularly at this time of year, of having their travel plans disrupted, most of what I am hearing is a sense of outrage about the way they have been treated since Monday,' Sibanda said.
He added that the passengers were claiming that Air Zimbabwe did not do enough to help them and are demanding compensation. He confirmed tempers were fraying at the airport after the airline left the passengers on Wednesday to scramble to find alternative flights, or temporary accommodation, on their own.
Sibanda said it was the complete lack of communication and notification from the airline that has left many passengers in limbo regarding accommodation and, more importantly, knowing when they would fly out to see their families in Zimbabwe.
David Mwenga, the airline's Europe manager, told us the company had done its best to find ccommodation for the stranded passengers.
'Today (Thursday) we have managed to book them into a five star hotel, hoping that everything will be sorted out soon,' Mwenga said.
SW Radio Africa – on line 24 hours a day at www.swradioafrica.com and daily broadcasts on 4880 kHz in the 60m band between 7 - 9 pm Zimbabwe time. Twitter : Facebook : RSS feed You can now get SW Radio Africa on the Tunein Radio smart phone app.
Source - www.swradioafrica.com
