The Air Zimbabwe plane which was impounded in London over a $1,5 million debt owed to United States-based American General Supplies (AGS), is now scheduled to arrive in the country on Sunday.
The plane had been scheduled to arrive today after the government settled the debt.
The plane which was supposed to leave yesterday is said to have developed a technical fault that needed attention.
Acting Air Zim chief executive officer Innocent Mavhunga confirmed the latest development saying: “We are still working on the aircraft and other logistics too so that the plane will leave as soon as possible. We are in the process of arranging that. The plane will leave after clearance.”
Sources at the airline said they had been advised aircraft had not yet been fixed because the spares had been bought outside the United Kingdom and are yet to arrive.
“We have been advised that the spares will now arrive in the UK from the US yesterday afternoon due to delays in movement of money transfers hence the Thursday hangar slot is lost,” said the source.
“The plane will now be repaired on Friday evening on the only first available slot. UK Civil Aviation Authority will inspect it on Saturday and hopefully it will be certified to depart arriving here on Sunday.”
AGS impounded Airzim’s Boeing 767-200ER at Gatwick International Airport last Monday over the overdue debt. The Transport ministry sourced the money for the beleaguered airline which has struggled to pay its workers for the better part of this year.
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After the plane was impounded, many passengers had to be rerouted and others reimbursed while many more were booked into hotels where some of them were later thrown out after the airline failed to pay for their accommodation, but Mavhunga dismissed the allegations.
