Maravi

Italian Ambassador clarifies statement on Zambian Airways

Italian Ambassador clarifies statement on Zambian Airways
By Inonge Noyoo
Thursday September 18, 2008 [04:00]

ITALIAN Ambassador to Zambia Giovanni Ceruti has said it is up to any government to make its own decisions regarding problems in the aviation industry. Clarifying a story which appeared in The Post on Monday where he was quoted as having said the government has a responsibility to keep Zambian Airways, Ambassador Ceruti said the statement did not correspond with what he said.

Ambassador Ceruti explained that when he was asked to comment on the issue of Zambian Airways, he stressed that it was not a problem of his competence and that it was not his style to say what the Zambians government must do or not do.

However after being pressed, he said he decided to speak on the general difficulties that airlines faced all over the world as well as in his country, Italy.

“Always referring first of all to Italy, where you know the problem of Alitalia is a sensitive subject at the moment, I commented that there are two different schools of thought.

The first one is that the state must not intervene and leave it up to the market to decide; the second one considers, on the contrary, that a government must take into consideration the opportunity of supporting in some ways a national airline although still abiding by the rules of the market,” said Ambassador Ceruti. “But of course it is up to any government to make its own decisions.”

Labels: ZAMBIAN AIRWAYS

posted by MrK @ 6:42 AM