Air Zimbabwe 767-200 Flight from Harare International Airport (HRE) to Johannesburg OR Tambo (JNB)

PICS: Harare International Airport

Check-in for KLM KL523 HRE-LUN-AMS

 

 

An empty departures lounge, pretty common in the evenings

 

 

Malawi Airlines Boeing 737-800 taxiing out for its return back to Lilongwe

 

 

KLM KL523 Airbus A330-200 shortly after its arrival at Harare Int Airport

 

 

Egyptair MS842 departing for Cairo via Dar es Salaam

 

 

Special thanks to Léonard Desdoigts for the great pics and trip KLM523 Trip Report HRE-LUN.



British Airways (Comair Limited) Shortly After Takeoff from Harare, Flying Over Chitungwiza

British Airways (Comair Limited) Boeing 737-300 shortly after takeoff from Harare Int Airport on the way to Johannesburg OR TAMBO flying over Chitungwiza. Once again special thanks to William Whaley on Airlners.net.

PICS: Harare International Airport - 04/13/14

 

LAM Mozambique (TM342) Bombardier Q400 arriving in Harare Int Airport from Maputo via Beira.

Emirates EK713 Airbus A340-300 arriving at Harare Int Airport from Dubai via Lusaka.

 

South African Airways (SA28) Boeing 737-800 readies for boarding while in the distance SA Express (XZ1613) CRJ200 and Kenya Airways (KQ780) Embraer 190 await departure. Although pretty hard to spot through the aerobridge glass is Egyptair Boeing 737-800 parked for the day awaiting its evening return flight to Cairo via Dar es Salaam. 

 

Special thanks to Paul Chikwanda for providing the pics.

The Big & Small at Harare International Airport

Ethiopian Airlines 787 taxiing out while Malawian Airlines dash8 Q400 taxies in at Harare International Airport. Special thanks to Airway Magazine for the pic.

Emirates EK713 Arriving at Harare International Airport - 18FEB14

Special thanks to RwandAn Flyer for the pic

CLASSIC PIC: British Airways & Lufthansa 747's at Harare International Airport (HRE) - 1996

CLASSIC PIC - British Airways & Lufthansa 747's at Harare International Airport (HRE) in 1996. This was taken from the view canopy of the old International Airport (current domestic terminal). Both these airlines are currently not flying into Harare.

PIC: Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787-800 & South African Airways Boeing 737-800

 

 

Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner preparing for departure while a South African Airways 737-800 is seen in the distance taxiing to the runway. Picture of the day thanks to Airway Magazine.

Source: Airway Magazine

PICS: Harare International Airport

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-300 pushing back for its return trip back to Addis Ababa via Lusaka at Harare International Airport. Ethiopian Airlines uses a mix of 787's and 767's on this route.

 

 

 

An Egyptair Boeing 737-800 parked up for the day awaiting its evening departure back to Cairo via Dar es Salaam. This route is operated four times a week departing Harare every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

 

Pictures courtesy of William Whaley at Airliners.net

PICS: Harare International Airport

 

 

PICS: Departing Harare International Airport

 

Completed section of the Joshua Nkomo Expressway leading to Harare International Airport. Progress is moving at a snails pace. Once completed the dual carriage will cut down travel time into Harare CBD.

 

Driving past the Air Zimbabwe hanger as you enter into Harare International Airport. The section of the road is still under construction.

Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787-800 dreamliner begins boarding while an Egyptair Boeing 737-800 in Star Alliance colours is parked for the day waiting for its evening departure back to Cairo via Dar es Salaam.

A view of the terminal and control tower with beautiful skies above.

 

 

All three African Star Alliance carriers lined up at Harare International Airport, South African Airways, Egyptair and Ethiopian Airlines.  

PICS: Harare International Airport

Two great shoots from airliners.net taken by William Whaley at Harare International Airport.

Emirates Heads to Harare Shopping Malls

 

HARARE, ZIMBABWE, November 16, 2013: Emirates, which flies daily from Harare to Lusaka and Dubai, will be on the ground meeting shoppers in Harare this weekend and next to share the excitement of flying and visiting Dubai.

 

Visitors to Westgate Mall on November 16 and 17, and to Sam’s Levy on November 23 and 24, stand a chance of winning two Economy Class tickets to Dubai with the airline’s raffle draw. Entrants will be asked to answer three simple questions about the airline, and their answers will be entered into a prize draw for the tickets. The Emirates team will also be talking about what Dubai has to offer as a leading leisure and business destination that has something to offer everyone. They will also explain the benefits of the airline’s Skywards frequent flyer programme, which offers lounge, ticket and shopping benefits. Visitors to the stand will be able to sign up for Skywards on the spot, as well as book tickets for travel they are planning.

 

Joining Emirates Skywards is free and members receive benefits every time they fly.  There are four membership tiers – Blue, Silver, Gold and Platinum.  Benefits for Skywards members include travel and lifestyle rewards, priority check-in, lounge access, extra baggage allowance and bonus Miles, depending on the membership tier. Members earn Skywards Miles when they fly on Emirates and partner airlines and through a wide range of leisure and lifestyle partners. Skywards Miles can then be redeemed for a range of rewards such as flights on Emirates and other partner airlines including Qantas, easyJet, TAP, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines, and for flight upgrades, hotel accommodation, excursions with Arabian Adventures, and car rentals.

 

Miles can be used for tickets to major sporting event and concerts. Members can also choose to donate their Miles to a range of charity partners including The Emirates Airline Foundation and Sightsavers.  Redemption opportunities are consistently being expanded. The airline flies to more than 130 destinations in 77 countries through its Dubai gateway.More than a third of the world’s population lives within a four-hour flight from Dubai, and two-thirds are within an eight-hour flight. Today, Emirates operates nearly 3,200 flights globally per week to 137 destinations in 77 countries. Since January 2012, it has launched new services to over 20 destinations, adding air transport connections that will benefit trade and tourism to Dubai and beyond.  Most recently it started services to Conakry on October 27, and Sialkot on November 5, with Kabul scheduled to begin service on December 4.

Emirates Airbus A340-300 Arrival at Harare International Airport

Kenya Airways Arrival at Harare International Airport

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Kenya Airways Flight Nairobi - Harare KQ700 (PICS)

Business Class lounge in Nairobi

About to board flight to Harare on the Embraer 170

Pre-flight Drink

About to land in Harare

Arrival at Harare International Airport

Great Flight and beautiful day in Harare

SA Express Planned Durban-Harare Flight Increase

SA Express (SAX) plans to increase frequency on the Durban-Harare route starting August to four weekly flights. The additional flight will operate on Sundays departing Durban at 2pm arriving in Harare at 4.25pm. The return flight departs Harare at 5pm arriving in Durban at 7.25pm operated on-board CRJ200 a/c.

• SA1613 DUR1400 – 1625HRE CR2 7
• SA1614 HRE1700 – 1925DUR CR2 7

Air Zimbabwe A320, ERJ145 (PICS)

Special thanks to Solenta Aviation for providing pictures

Air Zimbabwe A320 (Pics)

 

 

Special Thanks to demotix.com

 

 

Can Air Zimbabwe Become Successful Once Again?

Air Zimbabwe, the seemingly ailing national carrier is currently undergoing a restructuring programme aimed at making the airline competitive once again. Burdened with large debts and an ageing fleet of Boeing 767-200ERs and 737-200's, the carrier recently announced a fleet renewal exercise as part of the restructuring programme. Currently two Airbus A320's have joined the fleet with one recently undergoing safety inspections and certified to operate on regional routes such as HRE-JNB. Plans have also been availed to acquire new short range Embraer jets from the Brazilian maker.

But what exactly is the long term strategy for Air Zimbabwe? Several new routes have been mentioned including Durban, Mauritius, London, Lagos and Munich but is this really the best option? Currently the dominant legacy carriers on the African continent include South African Airways, EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines and Kenyan Airways. They are mainly characterized by their large fleets, hub-networks, expansive route-links as well as allegiances to alliances (Star Alliance, SkyTeam).

So the question is, can Air Zimbabwe compete with these dominant carriers? At the moment we have several smaller carriers making their mark on the African continent. These include Rwandair, Precisionair and probably the new player in the game Fastjet. So unlike the European and .U.S. markets where competition is highly saturated, the African market still has major potential for growth. So my next question is were does Air Zimbabwe fit into this whole picture?

As the legacy carrier that Air Zimbabwe currently is, the need to adopt a hybrid strategy can be critical to the revival of the airline. With the current small fleet it operates, a point to point strategy can be adopted where they focus on cutting costs and increasing efficiency, a strategy done very successfully by Easy Jet. At the moment Air Zimbabwe operates a Boeing 767-200ER on the HRE-JNB route which sits all day in Johannesburg before returning to Harare in the evening. The airline can adopt a fast turn-around strategy were they can do 4-8 profitable daily shifts between Harare and Johannesburg. But you ask, is there really a market for this? My answer is simply YES, but the challenge is the price. Middle income earners are not able to pay the current lowest price charged by SAA and BA Comair of $400 return trip. Air Zimbabwe can utilize their crew efficiently and adopt ancillary revenues methods from non-ticket sources such as baggage fees, food & beverage etc. Remember we are talking about point to point basis here so why not even fly into the cheaper airports like Lanseria.

Implementing Revenue Management systems to strategically control inventory, availability on GDS (Global Distribution Systems), and a reliable web presences can assist dearly in Air Zimbabwe's renewal. Some routes were Air Zim can successfully operate on a point-to-point include; Harare-Johannesburg, Harare-Cape Town, Harare-Durban, Bulawayo-Johannesburg, Victoria Falls-Johannesburg, just to name a few.
In conclusion, Air Zimbabwe can become a successful carrier once again with the right management team in place and a strategy that fits their current situation. We wish them best of luck in the near future.

Written by; Mlandeli Ndlela at HREAirportblog