Air Malawi’s planes to sell as scrap
Liquidated Air Malawi’s two Boeing aeroplanes, Kwacha and Sapitwa, which are grounded in South Africa, will be sold as scrap, The Nation has learnt.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of a transfer pricing workshop yesterday at Sunbird Mount Soche in Blantyre, liquidator of the former flag carrier who is also a partner in Deloitte, Lekani Katandula, said the grounded planes will be sold but because they have been grounded for a long time, they will only go for spare parts.
“Because the planes were for the better part of the years exposed to weather, everyone that has seen them agrees that they will never fly again.
“They can only be used as a source of spare parts. They will be sold as scrap and not much is going to be recovered from them because they were not taken care of,” said Katandula.
Commenting on other property of the defunct company, Katandula said the liquidator sold a few and that government is contemplating on retaining those that are remaining, including the hangar and offices at Chileka, arguing that it might not be good to have them in private hands.
He also noted that government wants to retain Ndege House at Mandala for official use.
Commenting on ATR 42, one of the remaining assets, he said they are still scouting for prospective buyers.
“Buyers that are interested in the ATR are bidding for low prices. The reason that they are giving is that it is more than 20 years old and cannot be used as a passenger plane in most jurisdictions. Therefore, the plane has a limited market. “But we are still hoping that within the limited market, we will be able to get a good price,” said Katandula.
The liquidator, however, said the bigger part of the exercise was the payment of massive creditors Air Malawi had accumulated.
In 2012, the Malawi Government through the Public Private Partnership Commission placed the struggling Air Malawi on liquidation and identified Ethiopian Airlines as a strategic equity partner to recapitalise the new airline Malawian Airlines.
