The Sunday News
Roberta Katunga Acting Business Editor
PLANS are afoot to introduce a tourist route from Cape Town to Victoria Falls and on to Kilimanjaro as talks between the low-cost airline Flyafrica and Tanzanian authorities are already under way.More routes to be introduced this year were revealed by the airline while discussing its strategy for 2015 and these include Harare- Lusaka, Harare-Dar es Salam, Harare- Lubumbashi, Bulawayo-Harare and Bulawayo-Johannesburg.
Executive chairman, Professor Chakanyuka Karase, said although definite dates had not been set, the airline would be launching the new routes this year.
“Since the start of operations last year in August, Flyafrica has done so much including training and employing 24 cabin crew members, five pilots and three engineers, all Zimbabwean. As part of our 2015 plans, we are committed to introducing more routes especially the tourist routes like the Cape Town to Victoria Falls route,” said Prof Karase.
He said the complete transition of foreign crews to a full complement of Zimbabwean crews operating the aircraft was expected to be completed by the end of the year.
According to reports, Flyafrica is also planning on spreading its wings by building its hub operation out of Harare with the Namibian division launching flights from Johannesburg to Lusaka, Mozambique and into neighbouring countries such as Malawi through fifth freedom rights.
Fifth freedom rights allow an airline to carry passengers from its base country (ie Namibia) to a second country (ie South Africa), and from that country to a third (ie Zambia), where tickets can be sold on any sector and introducing routes without an Air Operator Certificate in the country.
Prof Karase said in terms of the fleet of Boeing 737-500 aircraft which the airline purchased, two are operational while the third has been delivered.
“Once registered, it will become operational by March 2015 after undergoing paintwork and interior refurbishment. The fourth and fifth aircrafts will be delivered towards mid-year,” Prof Karase said.
Chief executive officer of the Flyafrica group, Mr Adrian Hamilton-Manns highlighted that further expansion was planned with the launch of two more aircrafts in the first half of this year. With four aircrafts, the group’s operations would increase to 16 routes. In the second half of 2015 and early 2016, Flyafrica plans to launch three more aircrafts, bringing the total number in the group to seven.
