Air Zimbabwe targets return to IATA in three months

Zimbabwe’s national airline Air Zimbabwe is confident it will return to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the next three months.

Tafadzwa Zaza, acting CEO at Air Zimbabwe, was quoted in The Herald as saying:

The process is underway to rejoin IATA, which I think in the next three months we should be a member of the IATA Clearing House. It’s very critical to join the IATA Clearing House to be able to contribute to the aviation global distribution system. Right now it’s difficult to pick us on the system since we are not a member.

Zimbabwe was suspended from IATA multiple times over its failure to pay for debts as well as safety concerns.

Zimbabwe has a USD140 million debt. However, IATA says Zimbabwe is making the right moves in clearing its debts.

Getting good with IATA allows Zimbabwe access to more routes either directly or through partnership opportunities.

Speaking in Dubai, Zaza again:

Once we are a member we will be able to get into these alliances as well as business sharing models with other airlines so that we can have our passengers, for example, traveling all the way to Harare or German or Dubai without a hassle. We will also be able to sell tickets for our passengers here in Dubai or connect passengers from here all the way to Victoria Fall.

Outside the domestic market, Air Zimbabwe only services South Africa and Tanzania at the moment. It will also need to increase its fleet should it get access to those.

For that, Zaza says the government is going to provide support.