The Zimbabwe government is reported to have banned three foreign airlines from flying into the country in order to protect the struggling national carrier Air Zimbabwe. According to a report in the Sunday Standard, the Ministry of Transport recently banned one South African and two Asian Airlines from flying into Zimbabwe to protect the financial trouble Air Zimbabwe.
This is absurd, tourism has always been one of the big foreign currency earners for the country and without good transport links to the outside world we can forget about the recovery of the tourism sector. This seems to be a more political decision than a business decision.
According to the report, the government stopped Malaysian Airlines, Emirates Airlines of the United Arab Emirates and Nationwide of South Africa from providing service to Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile Air Zimbabwe is reportedly on the verge of collapse because of it’s financial troubles and last week Air Zimbabwe is reported to have cancelled all it’s regional and international flights due to fuel shortages. The state owned airline had to retrench more than 700 workers because the financial troubles.
The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority has blasted the move by the government, saying Air Zimbabwe should learn to compete with other airlines and should not be protected.
“Air Zimbabwe should not be protected; they should learn to compete with other airlines. No foreign airlines should be banned as these airlines were helping in the economic growth in terms of revenue. Tourists should also be allowed to visit the country without hassles,” said Karikoga Kaseke, ZTA chief executive officer.
“Instead of banning airlines, the government should look into areas that need urgent attention in the tourism industry, such as the pricing structure. We are the most expensive in the region. Destinations compete and we could lose out in this regard,” Kaseke added.
This move by our government is wrong, Air Zimbabwe is in this financial mess today because of corruption in the government and also its own management failures. Remember the corruption invovlving the tenders for the construction of the new Harare International Airport? What about all the money spent by our globe trotting leaders and diversions of passengers airlines at the last minute to pick up our dear politicians? What happened to all the money that Air Zimbabwe generates from it’s business operations?
The government should allowed new players to come into the airline industry in Zimbabwe. There is World Cup in South Africa next year, is Air Zimbabwe going to be able to provide any meaningful service to the high number of tourists expected in the region? This is pure madness!! This is the time to think about the future and not to play politics with the economy.
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