The Sunday News
Roberta Katunga, Senior Business Reporter
NATIONAL airline, Air Zmbabwe is set to resume flights to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania next month as plans to introduce more destinations this year intensify, an official said.
Flights to Tanzania were suspended by Air Zimbabwe when the airline was facing operational challenges. Air Zimbabwe spokesperson Ms Shingai Taruvinga said customers had been requesting the airline to resume services adding that the flights will start on 14 May with an initial frequency of two flights a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
“We are trying to develop traffic on the route and frequency will be revised depending on demand. An airbus A320 will be used to service that route,” said Ms Taruvinga.
Ms Taruvinga said the route that is being plied by low-cost airline fastjet has enormous potential and will shorten travel times between the two countries.
The Harare-Dar es Salaam route was previously serviced by the national carriers of the two countries, but both pulled out due to operational challenges making it difficult for customers who sometimes had to resort to indirect flights via Kenya which was expensive.
“We are working on adding two destinations this year and providing the most affordable service to our customers,” she said.
The resumption of the flights between Zimbabwe and Tanzania will also help promote tourism between the two countries as well as trade and commerce.
Meanwhile, Ms Taruvinga said Air Zimbabwe was still exploring the issue of resuming direct flights to China. She said they were working on several options that include regional and international flights.
Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Engineer Walter Mzembi said Air Zimbabwe must consider resuming direct flights to China as the Asian country is one of the fastest growing sources of new tourists. He said there was vast potential to grow the country’s tourism by tapping into the vast Chinese market where the number of outbound visitors has been growing over the past decade.
“We should also revive direct air flights between Zimbabwe and China to make travelling between the two countries cheaper and easier,” he said.
