Zimbabwe Airways has lost a second plane Boeing 777 aircraft from Malaysia Airlines which has been sold by Malaysia Airlines after the Zimbabwe government failed to keep up with payment instalments.

Zimbabwe Airways has lost a second plane Boeing 777 aircraft from Malaysia Airlines which has been sold by Malaysia Airlines after the Zimbabwe government failed to keep up with payment instalments.

Zimbabwe Airways, which was formed in secret by ministers to eventually replace Air Zimbabwe, had bought four Boeing 777 aircraft from Malaysia Airlines.

The cash-strapped government has been paying for the planes in installments, but it is understood the agreement was breached.

In November, Malaysia Airlines sold off one of the planes, registration 9M-MRL, to an aviation company based in Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States.
On December 6, a second plane, 9M-MRM, which had already been painted in Zimbabwe Airways livery, also flew to Kansas from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia where the planes have been stored.

A source familiar with the developments said the foreign currency crisis currently gripping Zimbabwe had led to delays in paying the Malaysians who punished the breach by selling the planes.

Two planes – registration 9M-MRQ and 9M-MRP – are however believed to be fully paid up and should be delivered to Harare in early 2019 once registration formalities are completed.

Malaysia Airlines had offered the four planes to Zimbabwe Airways for a discounted $70 million following an agreement between former President Robert Mugabe and Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak.