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Air Zimbabwe pilots end seven-week strike

Other News Materials 16 September 2011 19:42 (UTC +04:00)
Air Zimbabwe was set to resume some of its domestic flights on Friday after a strike by pilots grounded the airline for seven weeks.
Air Zimbabwe pilots end seven-week strike

Air Zimbabwe was set to resume some of its domestic flights on Friday after a strike by pilots grounded the airline for seven weeks, dpa reported.

Pilots went on strike July 29 to demand payment of their June and July salaries and allowances.

"Air Zimbabwe is pleased to announce the resumption of operations following the resolution of the industrial dispute with its pilots," chief executive officer Innocent Mavhunga said in a press statement.

However, the airline was still offering limited services on some routes. And regional and international flights were only due to resume next week.

Flights on the airline's popular Harare to London route would now only take place once a week, down from twice a week, said the statement.

And flights from the country's second city of Bulawayo to Johannesburg in South Africa would also remain suspended, it added.

The just-ended pilots' strike was the fourth since last September. The airline has struggled to maintain operations throughout this year. At one point in July it even resorted to booking passengers on buses because there was a shortage of planes to ply domestic routes.

The private NewsDay paper reported Friday that the airline had received a bail out of 5.7 million US dollars this month that had allowed it to pay pilots and some creditors.

In July Transport Minister Nicholas Goche admitted the airline was living from "hand to mouth." He said it needed an injection of at least 20 million US dollars to save it from collapse.

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