SCORES of passengers were left stranded at Harare International Airport yesterday after the Air Zimbabwe flights failed to take off because there was no Jet A1 fuel.
By Everson Mushava
The Harare-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls flight that was scheduled to leave before 0700hrs only took to the skies at around 1400hrs with the Harare-Johannesburg (South Africa) flight leaving an hour later.
On board the Johannesburg flight was the Zimbabwe Under-23 soccer team on its way to South Africa for the African Championship final qualifier, second leg set for Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg tonight.
AirZim public relations manager Shingi Taruvinga-Dhliwayo confirmed the development.
“All out flights have been affected,” Taruvinga-Dhliwayo said.
“We have been experiencing fuel shortages in all our airports and in some airports in the region. Unfortunately, it has caused the delay. Our suppliers are working to restore the situation back to normal.”
She added: “However, as an airline, we have also made contingency plans to minimise the inconvenience. I can confirm that our weekend flights will be on. There will be no cancellation of flights. We have secured alternative supplies for the weekend and going forward. We regret the inconvenience caused to our customers.”
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AirZim reportedly gets Jet A1 fuel from BP, Zuva and Total Petroleum.
Trinity Ncube, a passenger on the Bulawayo flight, that also had 19 St Johns’ College students, said she was very inconvenienced as she was supposed to attend a meeting in Bulawayo at around 0830hrs.
She said they were initially told that the flight had been rescheduled to 1100hrs, then to 1200hrs, but it missed both the times and finally left at 1400hrs.
Another passenger said AirZim staffers told them that fuel had to be sourced from Zambia.
Other passengers who spoke to NewsDay also said the delay had severely affected them.
Some of those affected were tourists visiting the resort town of Victoria Falls.
