Fresh Air and 1time completed the Civil Aviation Authority regulatory demonstration flight from OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg to Harare International Airport, before flying to Victoria Falls and then back to Johannesburg. Blacky Komani, CEO of 1time Airline says that this newly found agreement with Fresh Air provides an opportunity for both companies to take advantage of the fact that Africa is the only continent where the low-cost carrier model is yet to take flight with regional destinations. 1time will have a short term dispensation to operate aircraft on the ZS register, while executing a migration to Zimbabwean registered and crewed operation. This process will be carried out within a year. Feel free to leave your views on this new development.
Amazing development hoping it lasts and that they do indeed get the hre-vfs route. On another note I saw the Air Zim Airbus being painted with the Air Zim colours. Perhaps a sign that something might be brewing at the defunct airline. How true are reports indicating that the second airbus arrived in July? I am very much interested in air zim developments. Please share what you know. Cheers
ReplyDeleteHi Casey, very interesting stuff happening right now. We all hope the 1time JNB-HRE, JNB-VFA route will be launched soon and successfully. When did you see the airbus getting painted? I was at Hre International Airport last Monday and saw one of the A320's for the first time outside the hanger but it was in all white. An engineer from Air Zim told me they had received a 2nd A320 but i haven't seen it yet. I'm more worried about the $150 million debt they have right now. It's so tough to find any info on what exactly is going on in Air Zim, even the workers don't seem to have much info. Another interesting development is SA Express was recently awarded landing rights for Durban-Harare so they should be announcing that route soon.
DeleteThanks,
ReplyDeleteI saw it yesterday. You will find in the same place outside the hangar but painted and marked Air Zimbabwe. I was also told by one air zimbabwe engineer that they had received a second airbus...also confirmed by one of the ticket office ladies at the airport. I am sure they are now trying to get their house in order but like you said, the $150m debt is a problem. I am not sure if the Goche disbanding of the former airline to Air Zim Pvt Ltd will work. I would love to see air zim regaining its rightful place in the skies hopefully with 2 A345s doing the london and beijing routes.
Good to hear SA Express coming in. We have good infrastructure but very much underutilised....but it seems we are getting there. Any updates on precision, qatar and egypt air. Cheers
They were struggling to register the first A320 but since its painted now we should see it in the skies soon enough. I highly doubt they will be getting those A345s they spoke about a while ago, it will be a bad buy anyway for Air Zim with the 4 engine performance needed. Something like an A330/787 kind of aircraft will be good for them. Harare and Lusaka apparently have the best geographic location for a Southern African hub but it might be a while until we start taking advantage of that.
DeleteI have tried several times to contact Precision Air about their new route but no response back from them. Qatar and Egypt Air will serve HRE as a tag-on but I have no idea when they will announce it. BA too should resume soon. Also LAM Mozambique plan to start Maputo-Beira-Harare route at the end of October.
Grat developments for the future. I am just departing now on KQ to Nairobi and that a320 is there in air zim colours. Everyone i have spoken to has confirmed thta the second airbus arrived and ther is speculation air zim willmtake to the skies in the next couple of months. True a345s might not be a good buy but the question is where will they get the money to buy new generation aircraft like a 787 considerin also the sanctions. Zim and Lus have the potential to be a carry on hub after joburg....maybe in a year or two if things go positive on the political side. Hvae to go now....
DeleteThanks for the comments and hope you had a safe trip to your destination. Will definitely be keeping you updated on any new developments. Take care.
DeleteThanks very much Hassan for the comment, will be keeping you posted on new updates.
ReplyDeleteGreat information about Harare Airport Blogger thanks for haring.It's awesome
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Thank you very much for all of the information it is very interesting. Any news on when Air Zim or Fresh air will be IATA certified so that we can start to ticket them using Galileo?
ReplyDeleteHave you heard if any of the airlines will start to fly out of Bulawayo especially the Johannesburg route as Airlink is exceptionally expensive.
Fresh Air ICAO code is "FZW", ICAO call sign is "FRESH EXPRESS" and IATA two letter designation is "Z7"...
DeleteHi Travel Shop. Thanks for keeping up with the blog and also providing a great service for travelers. If you read the comment below from Mati who works for FreshAir, it seems like they will be up and running soon (mid-September) and we wish them the best. As of Air Zim I hear they are trying to start-up regional and international routes by year-end but this is info from newspapers not a reliant source. No news of any new flights to Bulawayo but I know some of the SA carriers had recently applied to fly that route. Lets hope they get the rights. Anyways I hope this little info helps and keep up the good job.
DeleteThank you to those of you who have acknowledged progress by the founding generation of a new age in Zimbabwe. This airline signifies an era of development and growth of Zimbabwe as well as contributing to solving the problems we've gone through and continue to struggle against economically. The war for our country's independence was won, the struggle for our countries economic liberation has only just begun. The woes of our parastals are "OURS" to rectify and 'continue fighting' is my cry to all Zimbabweans who's ventures and businesses support and act in their own small way as agents that play the contributory roll on the ground and are doing something to build our country instead of wasting time and continually posting comments that cry 'DEATH' to Zim. I work for Fresh Air and want to say SIT BACK RELAX AND TAKE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR because tauya kuti zvityise!!! And the website will be up by the 1st day of our operations which is set at mid September.... An announcement will be made very shortly.
ReplyDeleteHi Mati, thanks so much for your update. This is really awesome news and will come as a great relief to the country. We wish you guys all the best with everything. Are you starting with VFA-JNB first or you will do HRE too? I would actually like to do an interview sometime with you guys, if you can please give me a contact. Looking forward to the launch date!!!
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