Harare - Zimbabwe’s government has revealed plans to purchase three Chinese-made Modern Ark (MA) 60 planes for its struggling airliner, Air Zimbabwe, that have frequently hit the headlines over their numerous technical problems.
Former President, Robert Mugabe refused to fly in the accident prone MA 60 for “safety reasons.”
Air Zimbabwe bought two MA-60 planes from China in 2004 and got an extra one free in what was termed “buy two take one free plane deal”.
Transport and Infrastructure Development Permanent Secretary, Machivenyika Mapuranga is however quoted in a state owned daily saying government is budgeting $6million to purchase the planes.
“What we are looking for is $6 million to buy MA60 aircraft for Air Zimbabwe of which one MA60 will cost $2 million. This is the aircraft we are targeting for Air Zimbabwe,” Mapuranga is quoted saying.
AirZim, which at Independence in 1980 boasted a fleet of 18 planes, is operating at less than a third of that capacity and reeling under a debt in excess of US$330 million.
In 2007, reports said Mugabe and his delegation, refused to travel in one of the accident-prone MA60 Chinese planes to Malaysia for his annual holiday because the Chinese jetliner was “not safe”.
Reports say the cash-strapped Air Zimbabwe could not afford to import spares to repair the MA-60s and had to “cannibalise” one to keep flying the other two.
