Business / Companies
Air Zim requires $368 million for recapitalisation
03 Sep 2014 at 00:26hrs | Views
AIR Zimbabwe requires close to $368 million to recapitalise its operations and clear debts, among others, a company official has said.
Of that amount, $331,97 million would go towards aircraft through leasing or purchase, $2,1 million to rejoin the International Air Transport Association (IATA) clearing house, $7,5 million for building offices, $10,6 million for plant and tools and $11,4 million for human resources, acting board chairman Eric Harid said yesterday.
Harid told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Development that the airline had a total debt of $302 million in salaries as the company was currently paying human resources 40% of salaries and accruing 60% every month.
"We are currently paying human resources 40% and accruing 60% debts every month through our staff. Our staff and creditors have been suing us and as a board we hope we are able to tackle that," Harid said.
Harid said the company had been in a loss-making position since 2004. It made a profit in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Last year, the company made a loss of $44, 77 million due to short routes, high cost of fuel and aged equipment.
Harid said the biggest cost on the company was fuel where the company was using the B737 planes which are meant to fly for six hours, but were used for one hour 30 minutes flights. He said the airline has a total of 10 aircraft and only three were operational.
"Our core business is in three models, passengers, cargo and mail, but our greatest asset is our people. The airline has got the following fleet: two Boeing 767 2RER which seats about 197 passengers and this is owned by Air Zimbabwe.
One is operational as we speak and the second one is undergoing a C-check which is a major maintenance of the aircraft.
"Two A320 Airbuses which have a capacity of 156 and being leased are both undergoing maintenance in South Africa.
"On the three MA60s, one is grounded, but the other one is the one in our inaugural flight when we opened the Kariba-Victoria Falls and Victoria Falls-Kariba- Harare routes on the August 1 this year," he said.
He said the airline had three Boeing 737-200 planes each with a capacity of 105. One is operational and two are awaiting maintenance.
Harid said the current domestic routes the Air Zimbabwe was flying were Harare-Bulawayo, Harare-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls and Harare-Kariba-Victoria Falls.
In the region, the airline is flying on the Harare-Johannesburg, Johannesburg-Bulawayo and Victoria Falls-Johannesburg routes.
Harid said the biggest revenue contributor was the passengers, followed by charters from the Office of the President which contribute 39% in revenue and the cargo which was only contributing 2%.
Of that amount, $331,97 million would go towards aircraft through leasing or purchase, $2,1 million to rejoin the International Air Transport Association (IATA) clearing house, $7,5 million for building offices, $10,6 million for plant and tools and $11,4 million for human resources, acting board chairman Eric Harid said yesterday.
Harid told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Development that the airline had a total debt of $302 million in salaries as the company was currently paying human resources 40% of salaries and accruing 60% every month.
"We are currently paying human resources 40% and accruing 60% debts every month through our staff. Our staff and creditors have been suing us and as a board we hope we are able to tackle that," Harid said.
Harid said the company had been in a loss-making position since 2004. It made a profit in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
Last year, the company made a loss of $44, 77 million due to short routes, high cost of fuel and aged equipment.
Harid said the biggest cost on the company was fuel where the company was using the B737 planes which are meant to fly for six hours, but were used for one hour 30 minutes flights. He said the airline has a total of 10 aircraft and only three were operational.
One is operational as we speak and the second one is undergoing a C-check which is a major maintenance of the aircraft.
"Two A320 Airbuses which have a capacity of 156 and being leased are both undergoing maintenance in South Africa.
"On the three MA60s, one is grounded, but the other one is the one in our inaugural flight when we opened the Kariba-Victoria Falls and Victoria Falls-Kariba- Harare routes on the August 1 this year," he said.
He said the airline had three Boeing 737-200 planes each with a capacity of 105. One is operational and two are awaiting maintenance.
Harid said the current domestic routes the Air Zimbabwe was flying were Harare-Bulawayo, Harare-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls and Harare-Kariba-Victoria Falls.
In the region, the airline is flying on the Harare-Johannesburg, Johannesburg-Bulawayo and Victoria Falls-Johannesburg routes.
Harid said the biggest revenue contributor was the passengers, followed by charters from the Office of the President which contribute 39% in revenue and the cargo which was only contributing 2%.
Source - NewsDay
