Ethiopian and Kenyan airlines have said they will start charging air fares in Malawi Kwacha.
The two airlines stopped charging fares in kwacha seven months ago due to foreign exchange shortages which made them unable to repatriate money to their countries.
In separate interviews on Friday, Kenya Airways country manager Ruth Maweu and Ethiopian Airlines marketing officer Godfrey Lungu said they will soon revert to charging fares in kwacha as the Reserve Bank of Malawi has started repatriating dollars to their companies.
“We are glad that finally the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has started remitting dollars we had ticketed for to our countries. They started remitting the money in March. With this [development], we will resume flights we suspended.
“We are now flying daily into Malawi and discussions are at an advanced stage to see how we can revert to charging fares in kwacha,†said Lungu.
Maweu also said her company is looking at modalities on how to start charging flights in kwacha.
Ministry of Transport director Victor Lungu confirmed that RBM has started remitting money to the companies.
He, however, declined to give more details on the matter, referring the report to RBM.
RBM spokesperson Ralph Tseka could not be reached to shed more light on the issue.
