The high cost of aviation fuel has rendered it very expensive to operate an airline locally, Zambian Airways chief executive officer Don MacDonald was cited by local media as saying on Monday.

 

MacDonald told Times of Zambia that Zambian Airways was charging 100 U.S. dollars for a one-way ticket on the Lusaka- Johannesburg route, while the domestic route of Lusaka to Solwezi in the Northwestern province costs 145 dollars.

 

MacDonald attributed the additional 45 dollars to the high fuel costs in Zambia.

 

He said Zambian Airways was locally purchasing jet fuel at 1.06 dollar a liter while in South Africa the price of jet fuel is only 64 cents per liter.

 

"The price of fuel in Zambia is twice more than the price of fuel in South Africa. We pay much more on fuel here than what we pay in South Africa," he said.

 

MacDonald said the reason why Zambian Airways chose Solwezi as a destination was because of new mining developments at Lumwana and Kansanshi mines, adding that the route was working very well.

 

Zambian Airways is the country's sole airline operator, which operates two international routes and several domestic ones.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2006)