Zambia Airways Makes a Return to Zimbabwe

After 27 years since the last flight, Zambia Airways has resumed its route to Harare, Zimbabwe.

Zambia Airways was relaunched in December 2021 after having been liquidated for 25 years, thanks to a partnership between Ethiopian Airlines and the Zambian Industrial Development Corporation. It has since been flying domestic; the Harare flightpath represents its return to the regional network.

The maiden voyage left Lusaka Kenneth Kaunda International Airport and landed at Harare Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport on March 28. Greeting the plane on its arrival were government officials, the media, representatives of various industries and a water cannon salute.

The move had been anticipated, after last month Zimbabwe’s Civil Aviation Authority granted Foreign Operator Permits to Eswatini Air and Zambia Airways.

The flight, which lasted 55 minutes, was conducted on a DHC-8-400 aircraft, the model which constitutes the entirety of Zambia Airways’ current fleet. Three weekly flights between Lusaka and Harare will be operated, said the airline, and it was also disclosed that 1.9 million passengers will be flown annually by 2028.

The return of Zambia Airways symbolises the rise of intra-African connectivity and the aviation industry’s recovery from the impact of the pandemic.

Zambia Airways’ resurrection is in line with the Single African Air Transport Market’s Open Skies Policy, and is also significant in helping push back against the current network imbalance. Roughly 70% of African air travel is currently provided by international, extra-African airlines, including Qatar Airways and Emirates.

Michael Madiro, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, described Zimbabwe and Zambia as countries “who share a lot in common”. Both nations are members of the Lusaka-based Southern African Development Community, which has fostered many lucrative and mutually beneficial partnerships in sectors including travel and trade.

He added that “the opportunity offered by Zambia Airways creates copious room for scaling up our further co-operation in areas of aviation”, and said that, for both countries to “fully modernize”, “it is imperative that we develop reliable, adequate and appropriate aviation linkages”.

Stephen Mbewe, Secretary for Zambia’s Transport and Logistics Ministry, said that the government was mulling collaboration with other airlines flying the LUN-HRE route. Mr. Mbewe also took the opportunity to make an ambitious announcement: Zambia “would like a fifth freedom to do the Lusaka-Harare-Johannesburg route”.

Image: James Beckett / Wikimedia Commons.