ZIMBABWE’S aviation standards have plumbed to new depths, with the country’s premier Harare International Airport’s runway now reportedly unfit for landing by the world’s major airlines, giving another twist to the screws on the faltering tourism sector currently laden with gloom and doom. This development, which has forced leading international airlines to abandon Zimbabwe, has prompted the cash-strapped government to issue a directive to the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) to expeditiously upgrade the dilapidated infrastructure to meet international standards at a cost of $11 billion. There are however heightened fears that the hurried project could come unstuck due to prohibitive costs. Harare International Airport, the biggest and most developed of all airports around the country, was constructed in 1955 and first used in 1956 but the runway has never been strengthened or rehabilitated. Runways have a life span of 25 years, according to international aviation standards. Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Chicago Convention of the International Aviation Organisation (ICAO). As such, it has an international obligation to meet the standards and recommended practices enshrined in 18 annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. Full Story
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