The Sunday News
Roberta Katunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE introduction of low cost airlines in Zimbabwe has stimulated a 10 percent increase in passenger traffic within a year as the aviation industry continues to grow, the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe has noted.
In an interview during the just ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, Caaz public relations manager Ms Annajulia Hungwe said a growth in passenger traffic and aircraft movements had been realised in 2015 as compared to 2014 signifying the general global growth in aviation with the major driver being lower oil prices.
Ms Hungwe said passenger movement increased from 1,3 million in 2014 to about 1,5 million in 2015 while the number of flights at the country’s airports has increased by six percent.
“Last year airlines like Fast Jet and Fly Africa brought in new markets that stimulated new demand from different sections of the population.
“In addition to that, there is a general tourism growth and aviation growth spurred by lower fares. All these have led to a growth in passenger traffic and aircraft movement at all our airports,” said Ms Hungwe.
Ms Hungwe said Harare, Victoria Falls and Bulawayo received the most traffic respectively.
Meanwhile, Ms Hungwe said CAAZ was engaged in talks with three airlines including Qatar on the Victoria Falls route with the new international airport near completion.
“The new terminal, runway, control tower and sewer network works are all complete while work on the fire station and access roads including the taxi way are 90 percent and 95 percent complete respectively,” she said.
She said the main project that was holding up the official opening of the international airport which will be a game changer for Zimbabwe and the region was the refurbishment of the old terminal which is being turned into the domestic terminal.
Ms Hungwe said work on the old terminal began in March with about 20 percent of the work having been completed so far.
“Operations have been moved from the old terminal to the new one to accommodate refurbishment. We are waiting for material that is being sourced from outside the country to complete the refurbishments,” she said.
She added that CAAZ had engaged all tourism players to jointly market the airport and that they were participating in different exhibitions and forums that include Berlin, Kilimanjaro and the upcoming Indaba in Durban to assess whether the authority can engage consultants to market the airport.
Ms Hungwe said airlines operating in the country have increased the size of their planes due to a growth in numbers of passengers.
Airlines that have increased size of equipment include Air Namibia who are now using an Airbus from the embryo as well as Emirates which upgraded to a Boeing 777 in place of the A330 that they were using. Comair seasonally increases its equipment when there is more traffic.
