A grand plan by Swaziland to create a national airline
has crashed after it became clear the tiny kingdom could not afford a single
aircraft.
Even so, E20 million had been spent on leasing a
29-year-old Boeing 737-300 that never once flew commercially. In addition, an
estimated E750,000 a month continues to be paid to airline staff who have no
work to do.
Swazi Airways was intended to replace the already
defunct Royal Swaziland National Airways. The plan to launch the new airline
came after the opening of King Mswati III (KM3) Airport. The airport, built in
the wilderness in southeast Swaziland about 70 km from a major city, was the
brainchild of the King, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last
absolute monarch.
The airport that was originally named Sikhuphe was
dubbed a “white elephant” and “vanity project” by critics outside the kingdom.
The cost of building the airport will never be known, but estimates are that it
cost at least E300 million.
The airport officially
opened in March 2014 and since then the only passenger-carrying
airline to use it has been Swazi Airlink, which is part-owned by the Swazi Government.
Despite repeated promises from the Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority (SWACAA)
that there was interest from major international airlines to fly into KM3, none
have down so.
In December 2015, the Sunday Observer,
a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, and described by the Media
Institute of Southern Africa in a review on media freedom in the kingdom, as a ‘pure propaganda machine for the royal
family’ reported, that Swazi Airways would fly to 10
countries once it had become fully operational.
The destinations were the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia,
Rwanda, South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda and Botswana.
At the end of March 2017 it became clear that the
kingdom could not afford the airline. Swazi Airways decided to drop its lease
on the Boeing, but was left with a E6 million debt to the company that leased
it.
During a debate on the Swaziland budget senators
decided to freeze an allocation of E16 million for the airline, amid
accusations of bad management and corruption. Members of the House of Assembly
called for a progress report on the airline after three months.
See also
PROOF:
KING’S AIRPORT POINTLESS
AIRLINK
FORCED TO USE KING’S AIRPORT
AIRPORT
MOVE WILL ‘BANKRUPT AIRLINK’
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/03/airport-move-will-bankrupt-airlink.html
No comments:
Post a Comment