Ethiopian Airlines has resumed flights to the resort town of Victoria Falls following the government’s decision to open international airports to boost the tourism industry, Chronicle reports.
The giant Boeing 737-800 reportedly landed in the resort town on its maiden trip in 6 months on Tuesday with 13 passengers and left moments later with 10 passengers and it will have a double frequency on Tuesdays and Saturdays between Addis Ababa and Victoria Falls.
Ethiopian Airlines customer services agent, Ms Divine Phiri spoke to the publication said they were anticipating more tourists to come in:
As Ethiopian Airlines we are excited as you can see this is our first international flight into Victoria Falls. We are hoping to start having more tourists coming to Victoria Falls.
Meanwhile, Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) vice-president, Mr Farai Chimba, called on other airlines to resume flights into Zimbabwe and said:
We are in the right direction. We have been waiting for over six months now for international flights and this definitely is the first step. We now look to have more flights coming in and this is an endorsement to say we are ready
We are calling on other airlines that used to fly into Victoria Falls and Zimbabwe as a whole that we are prepared to welcome our visitors from across borders and this is a direction that we can’t go back on. We are ready, we are part and parcel of rebuilding travel internationally and domestically. So far with what we have seen with domestic flights, we are quite confident that those preparations are bearing fruit and can only now be expanded to the greater market
RwandAir, Fly Emirates are among the other airlines that announced they will resume flight to Zimbabwe once the government opened the skies on 1 October after lifting some travel restrictions.
More: Chronicle