Air Zimbabwe assures safety despite fire incident

Published: 29 April 2019

Air Zimbabwe has assured the nation and the international community of its commitment to the safety of passengers despite its only aircraft, the Boeing 767 200 ER had a fire spark mid-air on Friday

Passengers aboard an Air Zimbabwe's Boeing 767 200 ER aircraft could only hold their breath during a mid-air scare on their way from Bulawayo to Harare.

It is said the pilot resorted to operate on one engine and the plane landed safely at the Robert Mugabe International Airport.

Surprisingly, the same aircraft took to the skies the following day and its tailpipe caught fire mid-air on its way from Johannesburg, the Airliner's Group Corporate Affairs Manager Mr Tafadzwa Mazonde confirmed to ZBC News.

"We can assure all our passengers that we take their safety seriously and what happened on Friday night is a normal incident which can happen but our pilots were up to the task. Our engineers are working to fix the problem and we expect it to resume flights within 48 hours," he said.

The Aircraft has since been grounded at the Robert Mugabe International Airport, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded this Monday.

Air-Zim operates just one plane and this has put on the spotlight the worrisome state of affairs at the national airliner.

The parastatal is currently under reconstruction to clear a huge pile of debt and old aircraft which is choking its operations.

As part of the ongoing parastatal reforms, the government has acquired three aeroplanes which are expected to arrive any time in order to boost the fleet of the ailing company.
- zbc

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