Ailing Air Zimbabwe criticised for flying lone passenger 6,000 km
(DPA)

30 May 2005


HARARE - Zimbabwe’s struggling national airline has been criticised by the government for launching a new route from Harare to Dubai which saw the national carrier recently flying home with one passenger, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Monday.

It is the first official confimation of the incident involving an Air Zimbabwe Boeing 737 flight from Dubai to Harare. Private media, which initially reported the story, suggested the flight of a single passenger 6,000 kilometres might set a new record in commercial aviation history.

“Its maiden trip to Dubai about two weeks ago took off with 49 passengers on board ... before cruising back more than 6,000 kilometres with a lone passenger,” the Herald said. The paper said the 205-seater plane needed 120 passengers to break even.

The Herald quoted a senior official in the transport ministry as saying many problems at the airline stem from inept management. He criticised managers for launching the Harare-Dubai route without assessing its viability.

Zimbabwe has been pursuing alternative markets to substitute for traditional Western ones following criticism of President Robert Mugabe’s government by Britain, the European Union and the United States.