Zimbabwe Buys Four Boeing 777 Aircraft From Malaysia Airlines

(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe will this month receive two Boeing 777s from Malaysia as part of a deal to buy four of the jetliners and a further eight Embraer aircraft in a bid to turn around the fortunes of the southern African country’s ailing state-owned airline.

The government will retain ownership of the used aircraft from Malaysia Airlines and lease them to a state-owned company to be named Zimbabwe Airlines, as the state-owned Air Zimbabwe “develops a credible business plan,” Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told reporters in the capital, Harare.

Air Zimbabwe has debts of about $330 million and was banned from operating in the European Union in May last year on safety concerns.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Harare at blatham@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Hilton Shone at hshone@bloomberg.net.

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