Malawi aviation in worse crisis

  1. Posted on Thursday 17 November 2011 - 08:00
    Mabvuto Phiri
    Image of Mabvuto Phiri
    Mabvuto Phiri, AfricaNews reporter in Lusaka, Zambia
    Air transport in Malawi will be harder because the country now has no aircraft. The country's two Boeing; Kwacha and Sapitwa have been grounded in Johannesburg over one year now and the only plane which Air Malawi was chartering from South Africa has stopped operating because the company was making losses.
    Plane
    Air Malawi has no money to pay for the rehabilitation of the two planes.

    Nyasa Times sources at Air Malawi confirmed that the company has terminated the contract with a South African aircraft company which was flying between Johannesburg and Blantyre and Lilongwe including other Malawian routes.

    “The South African aircraft finishes its flights on Wednesday November 16 2011. Air Malawi was not making profits through chartering that plane. We do not have any plane now because the two Boeing aircrafts are also grounded. Worse still, our ATR 42 which has a 42 –passenger capacity is also grounded,” the official said.

    In the dire situation, Air Malawi used to fly Malawi Defence Force Donnier to Zambia but the Donnier has also stopped flying to Lusaka.

    “We are waiting to see how management will sort this out,” the official said.
    The only known flight to Malawi is South African Airways which flies to Blantyre and Lilongwe on some days.

    There are also services from Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways.

    Meanwhile many Malawians have expressed concern over the aviation crisis saying businesses will be greatly missed.

    “We are in a fix. Where is this country going? Our businesses are affected by shortage of foreign currency and now we shall have problems to import with the little forex we get. Surely our economy will weaken further,” said a Lilongwe based businessman.

    Air Malawi has been going through financial turbulence for a long time and government in 2007 wanted to sell it to Comair of South Africa.

Latest News

  1. OPINION: Welcome to African Green Revolution24/05For the past century and a half, Africa has tried various agricultural approaches without much success.
  2. Egyptians vote in historic election23/05Egyptians began voting freely on Wednesday for the first time to pick their president in a wide open election that pits Islamists against men who serv…
  3. Africa Day 2012 - a moment for reflection and…22/0525th May is Africa Day. For many years it has been a celebration of African unity. It dates back to 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) …
  4. South Africa's African agenda21/05The Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Kgalema Mothlanthe paid a rare visit to Ghana in April at the invitation of John Dramani Mahama …
  5. Women struggle to rinse hunger, poverty stains21/05Just looking at her one clearly appreciates that she is old and frail therefore in need of support for food, clothing and shelter to live comfortably …
  6. Climate Climate change affects migratory birds…21/05Changes in the climate globally have affected the movement of both migratory and resident species of birds, Nature Uganda has said.
  7. Ghana: Foreign retailers cited for currency…18/05The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is attributing the sharp depreciation of the Ghana cedi against major currencies to the illegal activiti…
  8. Kenya: Community radio brings succour to…18/05Korogocho, a slum in northeastern Nairobi with 100,000 inhabitants, had many of the ingredients for a political explosion similar to those that rocked…
  9. Veld fires 'flame' Zimbabwe's…16/05Over the years, Zimbabwe has experienced the scourge of veld fires destroying property worth thousands of dollars.
  10. Liberia commends ECOWAS for support14/05The induction training of pioneer Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Volunteers for Liberia kicked off in Monrovia, with the Deputy Mi…
  11. Vanishing Lake Chad puts 30m lives at risk14/05As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in north-eastern Nigeria, the evidence of despair is telling.
  12. Heavy rains cause havoc in Kenya14/05Heavy Rainfall continued to wreak havoc across the country leading to the suspension of relief food in some parts of the country as most roads in Turk…
  13. Zimbabwe: Growth points lie dormant14/05The Zimbabwean government mooted the concept of growth points in the 1980s as a means of decongesting cities and towns.
  14. Sierra Leone improves in infant mortality11/05Sierra Leone has improved in infant mortality cases according to Save the Children- World Motherhood index 2012 report. The West Africa country descri…
  15. Zimbabwe: Resettled farmers fail to utilize…10/05Resettled farmers in Zimbabwe are failing to utilize land due to inadequate farming inputs and lack of resources.
News archive