By Wayne Mafaro  

HARARE – Authorities at Air Zimbabwe have expressed fears that the airline could face a ban from European skies if it fails a “must pass” audit carried out by the International Air Transport Association (ITA) last week, ZimOnline has learnt. 

Confidential documents seen by ZimOnline at the weekend showed that all was not well at Air Zimbabwe over the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) that ran from the 23rd to the 26th of October. 

The reports, titled, “Report to shareholder to fast-track the turnaround programme,” and “Operations and Service Improvement Plan 2007,” said the audit was a “must pass” as it was a condition for the airline to retain its membership of IATA. 

“In the event that the airline does not pass the audit, we anticipate the British government to lobby the European Union to include IOSA certification as part of the Operational Certificate Requirements for airlines flying into Europe. 

“If this succeeds the airline will be barred from flying to Europe and therefore the United Kingdom government would have won the battle to stop air services between the two nations,” said the report. 

The IOSA is an internationally accepted evaluation system that is designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. Airlines seeking to fly into Europe are required to first pass the audit before flying into the region. 

Authorities at Air Zimbabwe say once the airline is banned from flying into Europe, creditors will rush to call in their funds, paralyzing operations at the troubled airline. 

Air Zimbabwe is currently struggling with debts amounting to US$21 million, with US$13 million owed to local creditors, according to the documents. 

“The airline has no capacity to liquidate these debts which accrued due to poor business performance. As a result of the debt, the company has been put on cash basis by various service providers including fuel suppliers, a situation which is unsustainable," Air Zimbabwe said. 

The airline also said it was using “technologically obsolete equipment (aircraft fleet)” with most of its aircraft being between 16-20 years old.

Air Zimbabwe spokesperson David Mwenga refused to comment on the matter when contacted by ZimOnline at the weekend. 

Zimbabwe’s national carrier has since the country’s economic crisis started in 2000 lost its position as one of the best airlines in Africa to being one of the worst due to mismanagement and interference from the parent Ministry of Transport and Communications. - ZimOnline