NAMIBIAN airline FlyNamibia is scheduled to start flying into Victoria Falls International Airport three times a week beginning in April this year, businessdigest can report,
There will be flights between Hoseo Kutako International Airport and Victoria Falls, a resort town in Zimbabwe, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, according to Victoria Falls Airport manager Ronnie Masawi. In order to improve regional connection, Zimbabwe's regional network expansion strategy includes this new link as a crucial component.
“We should be having FlyNamibia three times a week from April,” he told journalists during a recent educational tour organised by fastjet Zimbabwe.
“So far, we have Kenya Airways, Nairobi to Victoria Falls, and then it proceeds to Cape Town, back through Victoria Falls to Nairobi, Ethiopian Airlines, five times a week fastjet which is regional to Johannesburg, Air Zimbabwe which is domestic (Harare to Victoria Falls).
“We have Airlink, which is daily from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls; another daily is South African Airways and Flysurfair three times a week.”
Masawi said although Livingstone Airport receives about the same airlines as it does, Victoria Falls Airport has a larger carrying capacity.
“You'll find that in terms of competition with Livingstone, we more or less have the same airlines that are coming from Johannesburg, either into Victoria Falls or into Livingstone and the fares are more or less the same,” he said.”
“But you find that in terms of the capacity of the airport to handle the size of aircraft that we are handling, this is what Livingston is handling, we have got an upper hand because we can handle wide-body aircraft.”
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He said the airport has the capacity to handle long haul flights which they can refuel while Livingstone has a limit on the size of aircraft that they can manage.
“Our runway has the capacity to take that size of aircraft. Livingstone, on the other hand, has a limitation on the size of aircraft that they can handle, that is where the business difference comes in, and that's where we have an upper hand,” he said.
After the Airport Company of Zimbabwe (ACZ) launched its campaigns, several airlines began serving the Zimbabwean market or increased the range of services they offered. ACZ has set out on a mission to promote the nation's air services.
These include, among others, Uganda Airlines, Cemair, Ethiopian Airlines, Fly Safair, Airlink, and Fly Namibia. In August of this year, Cemair began offering weekly flights between Johannesburg and Victoria Falls four times.
Masawi said the airport has been operating below its capacity.
