The Sunday Mail
Debra Matabvu
TWO major international aviation companies will soon join the growing list of commercial airlines flying into Zimbabwe, a development that is expected to inject renewed impetus into the country’s tourism sector.
Turkish Airlines and Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways have registered keen interest to revive flights into Zimbabwe, with plans afoot to fly into the country’s prime tourist resort destination — Victoria Falls.
This follows the recent announcement of the resumption of flights into the country by two other giant airlines — Qatar Airways and Germany’s Lufthansa.
Transport and Infrastructural Development secretary, Engineer Theodius Chinyanga, said more airlines are expected to commence flights into the country over the next few months.
He said the coming in of international airlines was good for the country’s tourism sector.
“The country is set to witness an increase in the number of airlines that will come in, especially those we already have bilateral agreements with,” said Eng Chinyanga.
“We will also be witnessing the coming in of new airlines into our airports, but for the new ones it will take a bit of time because of the logistics.
“However, I can confirm that in the next few months we will be welcoming Turkish Airlines, Qantas from Australia and Lufthansa from Germany into our airports.
“At the moment they will be flying straight to Victoria Falls since it is a tourist destination and the airport has a bigger runway.”
Most international airlines including Lufthansa, Air France and British Airways pulled out of Zimbabwe between 1998 and 2008 citing dwindling passenger volumes and an unstable economic environment.
However, the stabilisation of the Zimbabwean economy over the last year has witnessed some of the airlines resuming flights into the country.
Tourism is one of the country’s biggest foreign currency earners with airlines being major enablers.
The country’s main hub, the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, is undergoing extensive rehabilitation expected to be completed by next year.
The US$153 million rehabilitation project, being undertaken by China Jiangsu International, a Chinese contractor, will add a new international terminal building and aprons, four new bridges, a secondary radar system, a VVIP pavilion and an airfield ground lighting and communication system, among other things.
The international and domestic terminal buildings will also be refurbished.
The project is expected to increase the airport’s holding capacity to 6 million people per annum from the current 2,5 million.
