Air Zimbabwe (UM, Harare International) and Bombardier Aerospace (BBA, Montréal Trudeau) are reportedly in talks over the Zimbabwean national carrier's fleet renewal programme. Following the arrival of the Canadian manufacturer's Dash 8-400 roadshow in Harare International this week, Air Zimbabwe's acting chief executive officer Edmund Makona said the Q400 was only one of the type's currently being considered.
“Most airlines in Africa are using aircraft that are not suitable for their routes. We want to avoid such a scenario, that’s why we are negotiating with various aircraft suppliers,” Makona told Zimbabwe's Source news site adding that Air Zimbabwe “is currently looking for two suitable aircraft to service the domestic and thin regional routes.”
The Zimbabwean national carrier's turboprop fleet currently consists of three MA-60s of which only one is currently operational. Though they have been used on flights to Johannesburg O.R. Tambo, the aircraft are currently restricted to domestic operations between Harare, Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, and Kariba.
In the early 1990s, Air Zimbabwe sought to induct the Fokker 50 into its fleet in a deal that reportedly cost the airline "several million" US dollars. Ultimately, the corruption-tainted deal was abandoned after the aircraft were found to be ill-suited to the country's "hot and high" conditions.
In 2003, another corruption scandal erupted when a deal to secure two ATR42-500s from Air Littoral (Montpellier) on three-year lease contracts collapsed after the airline's backers, government, found that various costs pertaining to the agreement had not been fully disclosed.
