MPs agree ban on business class air travel
Members of Parliament (MPs) on Thursday agreed to stop civil servants travelling abroad from using business class air tickets and restricting them to economy class.
The development comes after the legislators adopted a motion on the same moved by Nkhotakota South East representative Everson Makowa Mwale (Malawi Congress Party-MCP).
According to the MP, this is one way government could be saving public finances.
He said: “I have original documents here with me which indicate that a return ticket on South African Airways to London costs around K782 000 economy class while a business class ticket costs a whopping K2.1 plus million. This cost is alarming and not justified given our current economic situation.”
He said civil servants need to learn from players in the private sector who prefer to fly economy class and should leave business class to billionaires such as Bill Gates, Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote.
The motion received several contributions from legislators, among them Lilongwe City Centre MP David Bisnowaty (Independent), Chitipa South MP Werani Chilenga (People’s Party-PP).
