National airline preps on course - Mushimba

By BUUMBA CHIMBULU GOVERNMENT is next year expected to begin the re-establishment process of a national airline expected to promote the local aviation industry worth K1 billion on a yearly basis.

The process is expected to begin once Cabinet in its next sitting approves the Cab Memoranda which has been submitted by the Ministry of Transport and Communication.

Minister of Transport and Communication, Brian Mushimba, disclosed that Government had engaged technical experts to find the best mode of re-establishing the airline following lessons learnt from the previous national air carrier - Zambia Airways - and from other players in the region.

Mr. Mushimba explained in an interview that the process had since been concluded and submitted to Cabinet for debate in the next sitting.

“We have technical experts that have looked to see the best mode of re-establishing the airline and that has happened. We have concluded that process, the cabinet memoranda has gone to Cabinet,

“I was told that the next cabinet meeting, we are going to debate this and Cabinet is convinced, the cab memoranda will be approved then 2018 we can start seeing real movements in establishing the national airline. Then we can see some purchase orders given to people that supply plans and we start having our own flag flying in the skies,” he said.

Mr. Mushimba said coming from a background where Zambia once had a national airline which went under, Government was taking precautions to prevent this from happening again.

He said the aviation sector in Zambia had recorded a positive growth which would further improve by the coming on board of the national airline.

The minister also said Zambia had signed a number of bilateral air service agreements aimed at boosting the aviation industry.

“What has happened in terms of re-establishing of the national airline is that behind the scenes, discussions have been had where we look at the best option to reestablish it,

“We are coming from a background were we had a national airline and then it went under so we had lessons learnt from there, we also have other national carriers here in Africa that are struggling so we have learnt from those,” Mr. Mushimba said.