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least US$20 million to keep its aircraft flying, a Cabinet minister has said.
Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development Minister, Nicholas Goche, yesterday said the US$20 million required only covers recurrent expenditure such as fuel.
It does not include US$8 million retrenchment packages for workers and other international statutory obligations.

The minister said this yesterday at Parliament while giving oral evidence before a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport, chaired by Kwekwe Central MP, Mr Blessing Chebundo (MDC-T).
He said a Cabinet committee set up to look into the national airline had recommended that a technical partner be found for Air Zimbabwe.
The major challenge for Air Zimbabwe, said Minister Goche, was that its revenue was less than its overhead costs, making it run a negative balance sheet.

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The minister said while it was difficult to get a partner owing to the bad balance sheet of Air Zimbabwe, discussions were underway with a possible suitor.
“All what we are doing at the moment is just to keep it flying, just keeping it in the air, while we are looking on areas to assist,” said Minister Goche.
“We need a minimum of US$20 million that will be enough to clear short term debts such as fuel. We are currently doing fire fighting, while we are looking at other strategies, it is hand to mouth.”

Government as the shareholder, said Minister Goche, was keen to ensure that challenges plaguing Air Zimbabwe came to an end and did not want to continue pouring money in a bottomless pit with no returns.
Minister Goche was responding to concerns raised by committee members whether his Ministry had considered other blue print reports.
Hurungwe North MP Cde Peter Chanetsa (Zanu-PF) also asked if the minister took into account the need to include people with the requisite aviation expertise when constituting a board for the national airline.

Cde Chanetsa had also asked why Air Zimbabwe had abandoned the Harare-Lumbubashi deal, which he said pilots had observed as lucrative for the firm.
The minister outlined the challenges being faced by the airline as obsolete equipment, sanctions, aging aircraft among others.

He said one factor that was identified as a basis for turning around the airline even before the inception of the inclusive Government was to retrench excess staff.
However, there was no money to pay exit packages.

“That was agreed (retrenchment), but when it comes to implementation, it was a problem, some people are affected and people in high office start complaining while retrenching this one, why that one. The Minister of Finance did not provide the US$8 million for retrenchment,” said Minister Goche.

He said it was then agreed that Minister Tendai Biti and his ministry should come up with fire-fighting strategies, while looking for long-term solutions after it became clear that it was difficult to find a technical partner.

“It was not possible to get a good partner considering the bad balance sheet. It was incumbent upon the Government to clear the debt to have a good balance sheet and attract a good partner but that was not done,” he said.

The minister said there was no money to buy new aircraft and all the recent talk of the acquisition of new planes were a creation of the media.
“Yes, of course, there have been people coming to us to sell their aircraft, but when you consider everything else you will ask yourself if Air Zimbabwe is able to do this considering the state in which it is in,” he said.

The decision to cancel the Lumbubashi deal had nothing to do with the shareholder since the deal was initiated by management.
They felt that they were not getting anything out of it.

He said a Bill is on the cards to separate the role of the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe from a regulator and player.
He said the principles of the Bill had already been sent to the Attorney General for consideration.