The Chief Executive of Air Zimbabwe (UM, Harare International) has spoken before a parliamentary committee, outlining a restructuring plan which will see the loss of top management positions, the government-controlled Herald newspaper reports. Ripton Muzenda told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development last month that the restructuring process would be complete by December 31, 2017.

Muzenda's commitment to trim back senior positions is a reiteration of what was said by Air Zimbabwe board chairwoman Chipo Dyanda last year. "The bottom line is Air Zimbabwe is top heavy and it has to be re-organised as we cannot afford to pay all those senior staff," Dyanda said, as reported in News Day.

As part of the restructuring exercise, staff will be cross-trained in multiple areas. "At present, the new executive structure has been agreed on and recruitment has been completed," Muzenda said.

The CEO echoed plans for the airline to regain membership of the IATA Clearing House, the service which enables international settling of accounts between airlines. He also ruled out the carrier being privatised, saying that for now it is important for the government to retain control.

The national carrier has been running at a loss for more than a decade and has suffered from mis-management through a succession of interim CEOs and charges of nepotism. The Chief Operating Officer, Simba Chikore, who was appointed last year, is the son-in-law of President Robert Mugabe.

The government-owned airline is currently losing USD3 million a month, with loads averaging around 40%. Air Zimbabwe made headlines in February when a customer tweeted a picture of a flight from Harare International to Johannesburg O.R. Tambo which carried just three passengers on an A320.

Air Zimbabwe operates a fleet of five aircraft - one A320-200, two B737-200Advs, two B767-200(ER)s (of which only one is active), and one MA-60. It currently runs flights to only five destinations: Harare, Victoria Falls and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo in South Africa, and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.