Aviation fuel shortage worsens in Zimbabwe

Air Zimbabwe has been left struggling to service its domestic route because of the country's long-running fuel shortage. International airlines have also been forced to divert their aircraft due to the worsening crises.

The country's major fuel supplier temporarily halted deliveries last week after Zimbabwe failed to make payments because of a serious shortage of hard currency. The airline owes more than $1million.

An almost complete absence of foreign currency means the country simply does not have the money to pay for essential imports, such as fuel and electricity, but aviation fuel had been maintained. The national carrier requires about 450 000 litres of Jet A1 per week.

The shortage prompted the government to last week approach the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) for emergency fuel supplies to keep the national carrier in the air, Air Zimbabwe sources said.

Acting group chief executive Innocent Mavhunga, downplayed the crisis as a "slight operational challenge."

But our sources said senior Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe officials left for Johannesburg this week to plead with ACSA for an undisclosed amount of Jet A1 fuel.

"They are in South Africa. The purpose of the visit was to try and convince the South Africans to supply Zimbabwe with Jet A1 fuel," a CAAZ official said.

The shortage risks scaring away the few remaining international airlines operating at Harare International Airport.

"We have been in touch with ACSA over possibilities of them helping us procure fuel. We also want to see how they are getting it cheaply," said the source. Zimbabwe is in the grip of an acute fuel shortage since Libya cut off a barter oil deal with Harare last year.

Zimbabwe consumes 15 million litres of Jet A1 fuel a month. But the country has virtually run out of all liquid fuels forcing the State-run National Oil Company of Zimbabwe to appeal to banks to help raise foreign currency to pay for fuel. South Africa has in the past helped Zimbabwe with fuel and electricity but has in recent weeks appeared reluctant to bail out its northern neighbour out of its worst energy crisis.

An Air Zimbabwe plane failed to service the London route last week as it did not have enough fuel to fly the route.

The crisis has also started to affect domestic routes, with the flight schedule for the Bulawayo, Vic Falls route disrupted last week over failure to pay $4,000 to fuel the MA60 Chinese plane. The dwindling fuel supplies have escalated calls to privatise the national airline amid concerns it was beginning to hurt national pride. The sources said more CAAZ and Ministry of Transport officials were expected to leave Harare for Johannesburg this week to join the team that went earlier. It was however, not possible to establish the progress of the talks between the Zimbabweans and the ACSA officials.

The sources said not much was likely to be achieved unless the Zimbabweans put money on the table. CAAZ, which is believed to be in dire need of $2 million worth of fuel imports, is seeking to source cheaper Jet A1 fuel. The vital fuel sells at between 25 and 27 cents per litre in South Africa, but in Zimbabwe airlines must pay in excess of $1 per litre.