CAO to assess state of airports
Ateam from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is in Zimbabwe to assess the country’s state of preparedness in managing public traveling systems in the local aviation sector.
The team, which is on a one-week technical assistance mission for Zimbabwe, held a workshop for the local aviation sector stakeholders on Monday.
The discussions centred on quality assurance systems at airports, compliance to global standards, capacitation of airports, boosting confidence in the aviation sector and modalities to deal with public health risks and disasters.
International Civil Aviation Organisation Regional Officer, Elisha Omunya said: ‘‘Compliance to latest modes of standards within the ports of entries that is airports is emerging as key towards ensuring safety of the public travellers. Therefore, it is our plea that as the Covid-19 restrictions are being reviewed regularly the state of compliance to prescribed regulations is also important to Zimbabwe.’’
The visiting team is being described by Zimbabwe’s aviation regulatory authorities as a show of confidence on efforts being put in place by the Government towards refurbishment of existing facilities and construction of modern airports.
Airports Company of Zimbabwe (ACZ) chief executive officer, Tawanda Gusha noted; ‘‘ The Government is doing its best to modernise and develop airports across the country. The primary aim is to match global standards while also assuring the aviation travelling public of safety. Basically, compliance to health standards becomes a key priority, a move that has seen us shifting focus to prescribed global standards for the benefit of the entire aviation industry value chains.’’
The main thrust of the global aviation regulatory body, which is based in Montreal - Canada, is to develop the principles and techniques of international air navigation and to foster the planning and development of global air transport.
This comes as ACZ is courting more airlines to consider flying into the city of Bulawayo to promote business, tourism and economic growth.
“Efforts are ongoing to entice other big players to consider flying into Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport,” Gusha said.
Gusha said his company was striving to increase connectivity, not only with the continent of Africa, but with the rest of the world.
“We are embarking on a programme to expand and modernise our international airports so that they will be able to handle big aviation players in the mould of Ethiopian Airlines,” he added.
Prior to Ethiopian Airlines flying to Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport in Bulawayo, Airlink was the only other international flight in and out of this airport to South Africa.
Gusha said the air transport plays a critical role in the economic development of Zimbabwe.
Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development Acting Permanent Secretary, Dr Loveness Masuka-Dumwa, said; “As we sit here today and deliberate on the Annual Plan for ACZ, we are happy to note the growing number of airlines that now patronise our airports. This should spur us to increase our efforts in modernising our airport infrastructure together with the attendant processes and systems, so as to better serve this growing client base.
“In doing so, we must also be vigilant and live to the continuous evolution of standards of the systems and processes at airports and strive to attain the highest standards in the world, today and in the future.”
The Government also revealed achievements of the country’s Open Skies Policy.
“Zimbabwe negotiated 10 Bilateral Air Services Agreements with African countries, three with European countries and one with an Asian country. This feat indicates that the Ministry and its Aviation State Enterprises and Parastatals are doing their part to transform our vision into reality,” she added.
ACZ highlighted that the ongoing airport development programmes across the country will also attract more airlines to Zimbabwe.
“If we build good airport infrastructure in areas such as Mutare, Manicaland Province, it will link more even with the development and will link Mozambique with Zimbabwe in a much faster and efficient way. This will encourage the business community not to take longer in travelling by road. We will continue to develop airport infrastructure to attract more airlines into Zimbabwe,” Airports Company Zimbabwe board chairperson, Devnanda Popatlal said.
Currently, there are 12 airlines that fly to Zimbabwe and most flights to Harare are operated by Air Zimbabwe, as they connect four airports. Among the twelve airlines include Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airways, RwandAir, Emirates, Fastjet and Qatar Airways.