Air Malawi
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| Founded | March 1964 | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | February 2013 | ||||||
| Fleet size | 2 | ||||||
| Company slogan | Africa's friendly airline | ||||||
| Parent company | Government of Malawi | ||||||
| Headquarters | Lilongwe, Malawi | ||||||
Air Malawi Limited was the state-owned national airline of Malawi, based in Blantyre, which operated regional passenger services. Because of its financial situation, the airline was placed in voluntary liquidation, the Malawi Government announced in November 2012, and flights have been suspended since February 2013.
The airline began operations in 1964 as a subsidiary of Central African Airways, and later became independent and the national airline of Malawi. With the exception of short-lived long-haul flights to London in the 1970s, the airline has always concentrated on domestic and regional flights, from its main base at Chileka International Airport, Blantyre.
Air Malawi frequently had financial difficulties, and the Malawian government attempted to privatise the airline on two occasions without success. The first attempt in 2003 failed because the successful bidder, in partnership with South African Airways, was unable to post a security bond. The second attempt in 2007 failed after disagreements over the terms with the bidder, Comair of South Africa. The government, through its agent the Privatisation Commission, announced in September 2012 that it had embarked on another search to identify a strategic equity partner for Air Malawi, and in July 2013 Ethiopian Airlines was confirmed as the partner in a new airline to be called Malawi Airlines.
Air Malawi began operations in 1964 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Central African Airways (CAA), which had also set up Air Rhodesia and Zambia Airways. CAA supplied Air Malawi with two Douglas DC-3s and three de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beavers to begin services, and also provided technical assistant, equipment and personnel. On 1 August 1964, the airline began flights between Blantyre-Salima-Ndola, and to Beira in Mozambique. The Beira service was operated in conjunction with DETA. The airline began services to Mzuzu with the DC-3s, and on 18 February 1965 a Salisburg-Mauritius service was inaugurated and operated via Blantyre, Nampula and Antananarivo.
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