Zimbabwe's state-owned airline was scrambling for cash on Tuesday to secure the release of a plane seized in London by a US firm over a US$1.2-million debt, a senior airline official told state media. According to Airwise News, Air Zimbabwe acting CE, Innocent Mavhunga, confirmed that his firm's Boeing 767-200 had been impounded on landing at London's Gatwick Airport on Monday after American General Supplies got a court order for money owed for aircraft spares. “The plane has been attached by one of our spares suppliers over an outstanding debt which we are negotiating to settle,” he was reported as saying. Mavhunga added that the government's treasury department had told the airline it could not help with the required cash. Economic analysts say Air Zimbabwe is struggling to survive due to mounting debts, currently put at US$40-m, and many see it as a victim of mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and poor funding by government since independence from Britain in 1980.
Air Zimbabwe scrambles for cash as aircraft seized
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