Air Zim to resume UK flights
2006-11-13 12:25
Harare - Zimbabwe's national carrier said on Monday it would resume flights to Britain this week, just days after suspending
the route over fears that a European navigation agency may seize its planes over a $2.8m debt.
"We have settled the outstanding amount, and Air Zimbabwe will be resuming its schedule and flying to London on Wednesday evening," airline spokesperson David Mwenga told reporters.
Air Zimbabwe cancelled its flights to the British capital on the weekend after the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation won a court order empowering it to impound the airline's planes to recover a debt accrued over four years.
The southern African nation, in its eighth year of recession, is struggling with a deep economic crisis, marked by the world's highest inflation rate, 70% unemployment and chronic shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency.
State companies have struggled to pay their debts.
Air Zimbabwe Chairperson Mike Bimha was quoted by state media as saying that the flights to Zimbabwe's former colonial master had been suspended as a security measure while the airline searched for a solution to resume its services to London.