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 Salisbury-Mauritius service was inaugurated and operated via Blantyre, Nampula and Antananarivo.[4]
1967 saw CAA being wound down, and Air Malawi became independent, giving Malawi a national airline. The airline introduced two ex-CAA Vickers Viscounts, and a Beech C55 Baron joined the fleet. By the end of 1967, the DC-3 was operating on all Air Malawi domestic services. Central African Airways was officially dissolved on 31 December 1967, and responsibility for all flights passed onto the three now independent airlines (Zambia Airways, Air Malawi and Air Rhodesia), of which Air Malawi was officially established by an Act of Parliament in 1967. Membership in the International Air Transport Association was attained on 1 January 1968.[4]
Independent operations (1968–1999)
The Viscount entered revenue service on 2 April 1968 on the Blantyre to Johannesburg route, and later routes included Blantyre-Salisbury, and Salisbury-Mauritius via Blantyre and Nampula. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw the fleet being modernised and standardised. Two HS-748s were ordered in May 1969, and the airline ordered two Britten-Norman BN-2A Islanders in July 1969. The HS-748s were delivered in December 1969 and January 1970, and the Islanders were delivered in November 1969 and September 1970, allowing for the sale of the Beech Barons. The airline disposed of the last of the DC-3s in March 1970, and in November 1970 it leased a BAC One-Eleven from Zambia Airways on a two-year term. With the addition of the BAC One-Eleven, Nairobi and Johannesburg were added to the fleet network.[4]
In February 1972, the airline leased a Vickers VC-10 from British Caledonian, and it entered service on a route from Blantyre to London. British Caledonian sold the aircraft to Air Malawi in November 1974, and the service to Gatwick Airport in London, via Nairobi, began on 3 December 1974. In 1974, the airline began flights from Blantyre to Manzini in Swaziland with the HS-748, and operated the route until October 1975. By the end of 1975, the airline operated one VC-10, two One-Elevens, two HS-748s and two Islanders, on a route network which included Amsterdam, Beira, Harare, Johannesburg, Lusaka, Manzini, Ndola, Nairobi, Salisbury and Seychelles.
Financial and ownership difficulties (2000–2011)
In April 2000, it was reported that Air Malawi was in financial difficulty, and that it may have had to sell its assets in order to stay afloat, however the airline public relations department refused to comment on the situation.[7] The government decided to privatise Air Malawi in 2000.[8] 110 employees were laid off in March 2002 in order to help keep costs under control, with Mathews Chikaonda, the former Malawian Finance Minister noting that the airline was overstaffed and was a drain on the coffers of the government.[9]
After the Malawian government approved a bid by South African Airways (SAA) and Crown Aviation to take a stake in Air Malawi, in April 2003, the deal with SAA to support the airline fell through. The Malawi Privatisation Committee stated that the bidders would not pay a US$250,000 security bond, and the government wanted SAA to take an equity stake in the airline, whilst an SAA executive said that the airline had an interest in supporting Air Malawi, but it was more important for the airline to make its investment in Air Tanzania work.[10]
Liquidation of Air Malawi and creation of Malawi Airlines (2012–2013)
Ethiopian Airlines was reported as moving closer to acquiring a 49pc share in Air Malawi, after the Private Public Partnership (PPP) commission of Malawi declared it the "preferred bidder" to be a strategic equity partner in the soon-to-be restructured Malawi Airlines, intending it to be part of its strategy to form a Southern African hub, according to a senior management member at Ethiopian Airlines.[2]
In July 2013 Ethiopian Airlines was confirmed as the new partner; it would own 49% of the new airline, while the Malawian government would own 51%. The new airline would be called Malawi Airlines in order to shake-off the negative reputation of the airline, as well as prevent "predatory creditors who would seek to embarrass the airline", bringing an end to the 46-year-old airline.[17]
