Air Zimbabwe seeks to acquire more MA-60s

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has launched an investigation into allegations of money laundering at Zimbabwe Airways (Harare Int'l), which also involved officials of the existing flag carrier Air Zimbabwe (UM, Harare Int'l), the Zimbabwe Independent has reported.

"I can confirm that we have received a complaint of corruption at ZimAirways, and we now have a team which is investigating the issue concerning allegations of fraud, money laundering and violation of the Exchange Control Act and immigration laws," ZACC Commissioner Goodson Nguni said.

The investigation is focusing on the transactions related to the acquisition of two B777-200(ER)s by shadowy Zimbabwe Aviation Leasing Company (ZALC), as well as the proposed purchase of two Embraer regional jets.

Zimbabwe Airways reportedly spent USD35 million from public funds on the two Boeing widebodies and a further USD6 million on the Embraers, although it had initially budgeted USD70 million in total. According to earlier reports, the aircraft were, in fact, purchased by Air Zimbabwe on behalf of Zimbabwe Airways.

Zimbabwe Airways was initially...

In its capacity as the carrier's sole shareholder, the Zimbabwean Government has moved to dissolve Air Zimbabwe's board replacing it with Grant Thornton Chartered Accountants who will act as caretaker administrators.

According to NewsDay, Minister for Transport and Infrastructural Development, Joram Gumbo, said the decision was taken after the Ministry of Finance had warned it would not be possible to roll-over the Air Zimbabwe Corporation (Repeal) Act which was repealed on August 1, 2018.

Air Zimbabwe’s acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Joseph Makonise had requested the act be extended to 2020 only for the Ministry of Finance to reject it on the grounds that the airline had failed to both restructure its operations and adhere to a turnaround strategy resulting in its progression from technical insolvency to factual insolvency. The carrier's total debt overhang is estimated to stand at around USD320 million.

As it stands, management for Air Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd and Air Zimbabwe Holdings (Pvt) Ltd shall remain in place, but answerable to Grant Thornton Chartered Accountants, who in turn will report to the Permanent...

Fastjet Group has set its sights on entering the South African market in 2019 after having secured approximately USD10 million dollars worth of fresh capital.

Following a warning to shareholders last week that it was facing a catastrophic funding crisis, the African low-fare carrier group said on Friday, June 29, that it had now successfully placed 66,495,310 new ordinary shares, priced at GBP0.08 (USD0.11) per share, to raise GBP5.3 million pounds (USD7 million). It also reached a deal with its largest singular shareholder, Solenta Aviation Group, wherein the South African ACMI/charter specialist subscribed to 28,924,538 new ordinary shares raising gross proceeds of GBP2.3 million (USD3 million).

With Solenta Aviation Group's increase in shareholding, the CEO of Solenta Aviation, Mark Hurst, will join Fastjet's board as a Non-Executive Director where he will be working closely with CEO, Nico Bezuidenhout, on an ongoing basis. A Zimbabwean, Hurst will also be responsible for the country management of Fastjet's Zimbabwe and Mozambique operations.

The two transactions combined, Fastjet says it raised gross proceeds of GBP7.6 million (USD10 million)....