A local airline, Fly Africa, is readying for a comeback onto the Zimbabwean market at a time when Germany’s Eurowings Discover airline is scheduled to start flying into the country next month.
A top aviation official said another airline from Eswatini is also eyeing Zimbabwe.
Fly Africa flights commenced in August 2014 between Victoria Falls and Johannesburg, and subsequently on additional routes. However, operations have been suspended since October 2015, on the removal of the airline’s operating licence, reportedly following shareholder disputes and failure to meet statutory requirements.
Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe director-general, Engineer Elijah Chingosho, said Eurowings Discover, will fly to Victoria Falls from Frankfurt. He told a media briefing:
So far this year we have a European operator called Eurowings. They are expected to start operations from March this year and they will be flying from Frankfurt via Windhoek to Victoria Falls, also we have a local operator called Fly Africa, we were expecting that they would have started, but they are almost ready to start.
We also received inquiries from Eswatini, they are also interested in flying into the country. These are the three which are certain at the moment.
Chingosho said Fly Africa was targeting the Cape Town-Johannesburg-Victoria Falls route.
Chingosho told New Ziana that Zimbabwe’s attraction of more airlines to fly into the country fitted well into the African Union’s Agenda 2063 target of creating a single African air transport market.
Last week, the Airports Company of Zimbabwe (ACZ) attributed the growing interest in the country by foreign airlines to improved aviation infrastructure.
The company is in the final stages of completing refurbishment and expansion of the country’s major airport, the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International.
Victoria Falls and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo have already been refurbished to international standards.
More: New Ziana