Zivanai Dhewa
Zimbabwe skies are set to welcome new airlines this week, a development that is bound to boost the country’s tourism sector and significantly contribute to the reduction in airfares as competition increases among the different airlines.
This publication managed to interview a contact from Airports of Zimbabwe who revealed that Qatar Airways, an Asian airline is expected to fly into Zimbabwe starting this week.
“Qatar Airlines will this week make its maiden flight into the Zim skies,” said the contact who chose to remain anonymous.
“Qatar will ply the route four frequencies per week from Dubai through Zambia to Zimbabwe,” added the source.
Contact further disclosed on the resumption of flights from the European airlines, Lufthansa into the Zimbabwe route.
“In a show of softening relations between Zimbabwe and Europe, thanks to the engagement and re-engagement drive by President E.D Mnangagwa, Europe's biggest airline, Lufthansa has also resumed its flights into Zimbabwe through its 100% owned subsidiary Euro-Wings Discovery, which started its flights on 12 June 2021,”source said.
A Turkey embassy official hinted on the possibility of Turkish Airlines plying the Zimbabwe route in the near future.
“There will definitely be an establishment of direct flights on the Harare, Victoria Falls and Istanbul route by Turkish Airlines in the near future, we will push up volumes as we go,” said the official adding that all the legal background concerned such as an air traffic agreement were in place.
Meanwhile, Air Zimbabwe received its foreign operators permit from the South African authorities, which will see it resume its flight to South Africa. The airline had its operations suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic.
The coming in of new airlines will boost the tourism and international trade. Tourism is one of the country’s biggest foreign currency earners with airlines being major enablers in that regard. The arrival of Qatar airways, Emirates airlines and now Lufthansa airlines on the Zimbabwean skies speaks volumes about the degree of confidence that Europe and Asia have in Zimbabwe.
