Goods more valued than human beings, says minister
As inverse air travel patterns worry government
By Caleb Chikwawawa
Transport and Infrastructural Development Deputy Minster Joshua Sacco says air travel trends in Zimbabwe have shown that cargo transportation by airlines in Zimbabwe far outweighs domestic travel among people.
Sacco was giving some remarks at the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) Annual General Meeting held in Harare on Tuesday.
The Deputy Minister said the discrepancy was evidenced by statistical data
He attributed this to unsustainability issues within the country aviation industry and airports in Zimbabwe.
“If we look at the fact that as Africa, we are the only country with 2,1% of Air Travel but with Cargo its 72%,” said the Deputy Minister.
“What does that show? That our goods are valued, the exports are important, but our own interconnectivity as a people is not taken seriously.
“Therefore, its our responsibility to open up our skies to bring in competition, to bring in more players. We need to look at our domestic routes.”
Sacco added, “In 2022, we only had 304,000 domestic passengers for the whole year compared to 1,6 million international passengers.”
The top government official said that opening up the domestic airspace to more players will promote more domestic air travel in Zimbabwe.
“We need to improve on our domestic flights,” he said.
“We need to increase the number of players for CAAZ to be profitable.
“For Airports companies of Zimbabwe to be profitable, for Air Zimbabwe to be profitable, opening up the market for co-sharing, opening up domestic routes.
“It will make sense as the government under the guidance of His Excellency the President, we have invested in Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, Victoria Falls Airport; we are looking at Mutare Airport but for all of these to make sense, I think we really need to open up our skies to increase the volumes of traffic and therefore the amount of monies collected by CAAZ and by airport companies.
“I think this will go a long way in solving some of the issues around sustainability and viability.”
