Looks like the 777 lease deal is not going to happen:

An Air Zimbabwe (UM, Harare Int'l) plan to lease a quartet of B777-200(ER)s from a Malaysia-based lessor is in jeopardy over a lack of financing Zimbabwe's NewsDay has reported.

Quoting sources close to the deal, the paper reports the Zimbabwean government-owned carrier has failed to source the requisite foreign currency needed to secure the aircraft and thus deploy them into service under the Zimbabwe Airways (Harare Int'l) brand.

“Most of the groundwork had been done and what was left was Air Zimbabwe to pay to activate the lease but the airline does not have the money and the shareholder (government) for now has no capacity,” a source told the newspaper.

Article
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... lease-plan

..Well, yes, paying was "all that was left to do"....

How surprising...
Well, Bobby will have to keep chartering some imperialist aircraft for his shopping trips, then.

Mugabe out of money? Impossible! Why, he could just have the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe print enough paper money to cover the deal, couldn't he? That's just what he did back in the late 1990s & early 2000s. Oh, that didn't work out so well, did it? An inflation rate of 79.6 billion percent will ruin one's day in a hurry! Read about it here & see a picture of the largest denomination bill that Zimbabwe printed during those days . . .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinfl ... n_Zimbabwe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zimb ... bverse.jpg

Oh these imperialistic ways of having to pay for things, such a bummer...and all this to be able to move around on colonialistic designed and manufactured machinery

He could easey pay the bill from his bank accounts in China, or a China government loan from his best friend.
The lessor was sensible enough to require "foreign currency" knowing the Bank of Zimbabwe.

Now there's a surprise...NOT ! If I were that Malaysian lessor I'd ask for cleared funds from an auditable source before even touching those 777's let alone painting them up and getting them ready for delivery.

I love Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean people; I have visited 3 or 4 times. So the damage he and his revolting cronies have inflicted on this beautiful country with so much potential fills me with hatred for them. And I rarely ever hate anyone or anything as I see hate as a wasted emotion.

Fury aside, the sooner they fall the better for their people and country; and a new or rebooted national airline would hopefully then follow. Meanwhile it would be good to see Zimbabwe Airways progress and actually fly these B772s and make it work, yet Zanu-PF's ruination of the country and economy probably makes it fairly unlikely any state-owned venture will get off the ground until they are gone and the country is on a path of change.

I'd add that the Zim Airways livery is decent and would both be an appropriate representation of Zimbabwe abroad, an advertisement for a fine country, plus a ZA-liveried B772 would look great in a model plane collection to boot.

Does anyone know who the wet-lessor was?

Its just so puerile. Honestly, where on earth do they think they are going to fly 4 772's profitably? Does nobody in that airline actually own a calculator? How do these guys stick their underpants on the right way round when they dress in the morning?

TheLion wrote:

beautiful country with so much potential.

The thing that is so frustrating is that the solutions are so so simple and yet..............

On this forum there are a lot of armchair CEO's who get called out for thinking they know more that the senior executives of the world's best airlines however I could select 12 people at random from this forum and I think they could do a better job of running UM.

Who in their right mind would offer financing to any state-owned Zimbabwean enterprise? That's the problem with stupid economic policies like Mugabe's; it takes many years (if not decades) for trust to be regained.

metalinyoni wrote:

Its just so puerile. Honestly, where on earth do they think they are going to fly 4 772's profitably? Does nobody in that airline actually own a calculator? How do these guys stick their underpants on the right way round when they dress in the morning?

TheLion wrote:

beautiful country with so much potential.

The thing that is so frustrating is that the solutions are so so simple and yet..............

On this forum there are a lot of armchair CEO's who get called out for thinking they know more that the senior executives of the world's best airlines however I could select 12 people at random from this forum and I think they could do a better job of running UM.

Every single word of yours could also be applied to Venezuela and Conviasa. One of Mugabe's best (or few) friends on this planet, just as cleptocratic and useless....

MalevTU134 wrote:

Every single word of yours could also be applied to Venezuela and Conviasa. One of Mugabe's best (or few) friends on this planet, just as cleptocratic and useless....

Could even say the same about the US state of Kansas... which, though not its own country, is in economic shambles.

Theirs was a pull to the absurd fringes of Right wing economic policy.
Venezuela to the fringe Left.
Zimbabwe to Fascism.
And we all know the fate of the Communist USSR.

......just goes to show that the extremes of any ideology only lead to economic disaster, the bane of airline/air service.

I can't believe Mugabe is still there....

ODwyerPW wrote:

I can't believe Mugabe is still there....

Why wouldn't he be?

His own people aren't going to stop him; that much is clear.

And Zimbabwe doesn't hold any economic/logistical/strategic interest sufficient for any foreign power to topple him.

Thus, no real reason for him to not be there; shy of natural death or a power-play by someone just as bad.

I saw a photo on here of Zimbabwe Airways 777 all painted in a new livery, presumably to be delivered, however what is the difference here, could someone explain... is Zimbabwe Airways a rebrand and new livery of Air Zimbabwe?

LAX772LR wrote:

ODwyerPW wrote:

I can't believe Mugabe is still there....

Why wouldn't he be?

His own people aren't going to stop him; that much is clear.

And Zimbabwe doesn't hold any economic/logistical/strategic interest sufficient for any foreign power to topple him.

Thus, no real reason for him to not be there; shy of natural death or a power-play by someone just as bad.

They almost got rid of him in the 2008 election. The opposition MDC candidate Tsvangirai won the plurality of votes (but not the needed majority) in the first round of the presidential election. Violence and intimidate in the lead up the second round effectively deterred MDC supporters from voting for Tsvangirai in the second round and the election returned Mugabe to the presidency. After that election, the MDC and ZANU-PF went into a power sharing government, an arrangement that severely weakened the MDC's position vis-a-vis ZANU-PF (how effective an opposition can you be when you're sharing responsibility for governance?).

elmothehobo wrote:

Does anyone know who the wet-lessor was?

Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad, a Malaysian government SPV.

LAX772LR wrote:

ODwyerPW wrote:

I can't believe Mugabe is still there....

Why wouldn't he be?

His own people aren't going to stop him; that much is clear.

And Zimbabwe doesn't hold any economic/logistical/strategic interest sufficient for any foreign power to topple him.

Thus, no real reason for him to not be there; shy of natural death or a power-play by someone just as bad.

Yes some good points. It really does make my blood boil thinking of what they've done to that great country. They truly are evil human beings who care nothing for anyone else, let alone the poor Zimbabwean people.

Unveiling rumored to be on the 9th of November so lets wait and see

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/NEWS-39491-A ... /NEWS.aspx

Any idea on the type they might fly for regional route? Embraer?

SR380 wrote:

Any idea on the type they might fly for regional route? Embraer?

Air Zim may have plans and wishes to operate this, that or the other. But it's all mute, as they haven't got a US or Euro cent to their name and therefore can't finance their wishes. Only option would be to buddy up even more with China, who might let them have a few of their otherwise unsellable airframes against sole rights to their underground.

No one should be surprised at this. I bet the lease company had it highly discounted in their books in the expectation this would happen.

SR380 wrote:

Any idea on the type they might fly for regional route? Embraer?

Harare - Bulawayo/Victoria falls/Kariba?/Durban/CapeTown/Lusaka/Gabarone/Beira/
Bulawayo - Johannesburg
Victoria falls - Capetown

XLA2008 wrote:

I saw a photo on here of Zimbabwe Airways 777 all painted in a new livery, presumably to be delivered, however what is the difference here, could someone explain... is Zimbabwe Airways a rebrand and new livery of Air Zimbabwe?

yes it is former Air Zmbabwe rebranded.

I don't think it is a rebrand.

It is a completely new airline with a new AOC. It is a work around those bans and black lists...

Air Zim will die after this new airline is launched.

They have advertised for management and staff except for CEO who everyone expects to be RG's son in law

One of the 777200ER had been reg Z-RGM and now the CAAZ will rename it

http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc- ... 22751.html

Harare Airport was recently renamed Robert Mugabe International Airport I wonder if that will change as well anytime soon!

How many of the four Malaysian leased Boeing 772's are painted in the 'new' Zimbabwe Airways livery and are any of them actually flying in commercial service yet as they must be costing a fortune without gaining any revenue from them.

I have mentioned it previously but the 'new' Zimbabwe Airways once everything is settled down should look into reinstating Harare to LGW with these 772's as well as eventually opening up PEK.

Cunard wrote:

Harare Airport was recently renamed Robert Mugabe International Airport I wonder if that will change as well anytime soon!

How many of the four Malaysian leased Boeing 772's are painted in the 'new' Zimbabwe Airways livery and are any of them actually flying in commercial service yet as they must be costing a fortune without gaining any revenue from them.

I have mentioned it previously but the 'new' Zimbabwe Airways once everything is settled down should look into reinstating Harare to LGW with these 772's as well as eventually opening up PEK.

There is a lot of secrecy on the new Zimbabwe Airways, seems was a Mugabe Family project with his (vastly inexperinced ) son-in-law bound to be CEO.

Jerry Haas @iamMrHaas twitter acc said on 1 Nov "More #ZimbabweAirways complete local registration of #B777s. Delivery expected in a week. Launch flight targeted to London mid November."
Not sure this will happen but lets wait and see

The deal has finally happened the 1st 777 delivered today and registered Z-RGM (Robert gabriel Mugabe) . Cry My beloved Country.

The interesting thing is that they bought the 4 777-200ER for 70Million ie 17.5 Mil each. Then the price of 20Mil by Delta CEO is true.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimb ... SKBN1HI2RV

Can moderators change the topic

Some photos of aarival below from Brez, please note Mugabe's Daughter and Son in Law rumored to be owners of Zimbabwe airways

https://twitter.com/BrezhMalaba/status/ ... 9806267392

There is now plenty of sources saying that the aircarft might be impound in Harare due to possible taxpayers money being use to pay for it. Still according to Bloomberg the deal still include four 777, of which two are already paid for and up to 8 Embraer aircrafts. Anyone has any info on which type?

https://www.google.ch/amp/s/www.bloombe ... a-airlines

SR380 wrote:

There is now plenty of sources saying that the aircarft might be impound in Harare due to possible taxpayers money being use to pay for it. Still according to Bloomberg the deal still include four 777, of which two are already paid for and up to 8 Embraer aircrafts. Anyone has any info on which type?

https://www.google.ch/amp/s/www.bloombe ... a-airlines

I gree the Min of Finance said Air Zimbabwe is too broke and disorganised to lease them its all clouded in controversy no-one knows what happening or really who Zimbabwe Airways is but their association with the Mugabes. They had used stolen government funds to buy the planes now the government took them back.