Now Zambia Airways cancels Zimbabwe flights
By: Kumbirai Mafunda, Senior Business Reporter
Zimbabwe this week suffered a major setback in its drive to lure more international tourist traffic after Zambian Airways cancelled flights into the country due to viability problems.
Zambian Airways will on Saturday stop flying into Zimbabwe because of high costs of fuel and the volatility of the country's skidding currency.
“This is a commercial decision that we have taken after reviewing the performance of the Lusaka-Harare route for some months. Regrettably, we see no prospect of improvement in the immediate future, and we have been forced to act in this way,” Mutembo Nchito, the Zambian Airways chief executive officer said in a statement.
Nchito said customers booked to travel between Lusaka and Harare after Saturday will be offered alternative flight arrangements or a full refund on their tickets.
While the Lusaka-Harare route was unprofitable, Zambian Airways said it would be introducing new routes to Solwezi and Lubumbashi.
Zambian Airways becomes the second airline this year to stop flying out of Harare after British Airways, which had been servicing the route over the last 75 years (apart from a cessation of flights Ian Smith's UDI in 1965), cancelled flights between Harare and London in September due to viability problems.
The latest exit from Zimbabwe's skyways comes in the wake of withdrawals by other major airlines among them Austrian Airlines, KLM, Balkans, Air France, Qantas and Lufthansa since 2000 when government embarked on its controversial land grab exercise.
Article courtesy of
The Financial Gazette
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