AirZim Boeing 767 repair
Hi there, another of those Air Zimbabwe stories: By The Herald (Harare) Repairs on Air Zimbabwe's Boeing 767 which developed a technical fault while in the United Kingdom prior to its scheduled return to Zimbabwe on Monday are expected to take between 20 to 25 days, the airline said yesterday. As a result, the airline is mulling leasing another engine while the repairs are being done. The national airline announced on Tuesday the B767 had developed an oil leak which was undergoing further investigations by Storm Aviation and Lufthansa Technic --its technical partners in the UK and Germany to ascertain the extent of repair work needed. "Our colleagues from Lufthansa Technic, who refurbish our engines, are doing work scope after which they will advise us exact details of what requires to be done. "The PW4000 engine that we use on the B767 aircraft is quite sophisticated and we want to ensure that sufficient investigations are carried out to give us the exact specifics of what requires to be done, where in Europe and how long the work will take," said acting technical operations director Mr Boston Odongo. "We are looking at options of leasing another engine while this one is undergoing repair work, in view of the challenges we are bound to face given the size of our i nternational operations," he added. The grounding of the B767 has necessitated rescheduling of some flights. Today's Harare to London flight has now been combined with that for Sunday evening to Sunday morning. Passengers from UK, who were scheduled to leave London tomorrow and Monday evenings will now leave London on the Sunday evening flight. All other international flights -- the Harare to Beijing this evening and to Dubai on Monday evening and to London on Wednesday evening remain unaffected. Cheers, Felix

Leasing an engine?? I've never heard of that before althoug it's quite a clever idea. I wonder if the loads on the DXB, SIN and PEK flights have improved??

Zimbabwe's national airline has grounded two Chinese-built planes further making it difficult for the troubled airline to service its routes. Air Zimbabwe bought the two MA-60 turboprop planes in 2005. A third was donated by the Chinese earlier this year. A report in The Standard, an independent weekly newspaper, says the two planes have been grounded for more than two weeks. The report said the planes were grounded because expired spare parts had not been replaced. The newspaper, quoting sources at Air Zimbabwe, said the planes were kept flying after the expiration of parts due for replacement after 1,000 flying hours. The source was quoted as saying the planes reached 1,000 hours last December. The third plane is still flying because it has yet to reach the hours required for replacement. The MA-60s service domestic and regional routes. The planes are the most tangible evidence of President Robert Mugabe's look-east policy. Since the breakdown of relations with traditional western trading partners over alleged human rights abuses by his government, Mr. Mugabe has been cultivating trade with eastern countries notably China. The Standard reports another of Air Zimbabwe's planes, a long-haul Boeing 767, has been transferred from London to Germany for service, after being grounded in the British capital for weeks. But the paper says the national airline is struggling to get parts to repair the plane because suppliers are demanding cash upfront. Air Zimbabwe's passenger fleet has dropped from more than 20 aircraft in the 1980s to less than 10. In the past few years the airline has had cash flow problems that have seen it temporarily suspended by the International Air Transport Association for non-payment of dues. Earlier this year, Air Zimbabwe Chief Executive Officer Oscar Madombwe blamed the airlines problems on the shortage of hard currency to buy equipment and new planes. Last November, the airline ran out of jet fuel and failed to service its routes. The fuel problem persists and sometimes aircraft have to fly via Lilongwe in Malawi to refuel, which Madombwe said is expensive. Zimbabwe is currently facing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980. Fuel, food and foreign currency are in short supply and inflation at close to 1,200 percent is the highest in the world.

Air Zim grounds long-haul aircraft
25 July 2006 Air Zim grounds long-haul aircraft -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AIR Zimbabwe has grounded one of its Boeing B767s following the discovery of an oil leak upon arrival in London. The engineers discovered that one of the aircraft’s bearings may have given in on the flight across from Harare. Air Zimbabwe acting ceo, Captain Oscar Madombwe, says: “The aircraft is currently undergoing repairs in Frankfurt, and is expected to return to the fleet in about 60 days.” The airline now has only one long-haul aircraft remaining, another B767, which Madombwe says will operate all of the long-haul routes, comprising three frequencies to London per week, and one frequency to Dubai per week.

Air Zim really needs a break. I hope things work out for them as these persistent problems seem to be getting prominent media attention, a situation which is not good for the airlines recovery. Cheers, Walter.

My question - How on earth ar they going to pay for this lot :shock: - in Zim dollars - I don't think so. :twisted:

Air Zim Russian Plane Deal
Well with an aircraft out of action and another which has recently been taken in for major works this leaves them with just the B737's they are now in talks to loan another B767 from the Chinese and are trying to make a deal with Russia for one Il 96 and a TU 334 and possibly loans on a further two of each. The pilots are unhappy about this saying that they are worried for the safety of themselves and all the passengers. There are two things to consider here and one being that both aircraft are now proving that safety is no longer an issue as with past Russian craft and the other is that well as dedicated as the pilots and crew are the sad harsh reality is that they may not have a job for much longer as Air Zim is no doubt going to cease operations before too long which is terribly sad considering that they were one of the big boys in the African Aviation industry and were on the up. What a shame..

Hi there, having been in Frankfurt twice this week, I noted that AirZim's 767 is still parked at an offside parking position and it does not look as if anything is happening there? Has someone an info about what is going to happen? Cheers, Felix