Emirates Increasing Harare Service?

Emirates timetable is showing that the airline will be adding an additional Thursday flight starting November 1st 2012 bringing their total weekly frequency up to six flights. So far this flight is not available for booking but I'm sure an official announcement will be made soon by the airline. Emirates has plans of flying daily on this route then eventually splitting its Harare via Lusaka service.

SA Express Plans Regional Expansion

SA Express together with Dube TradePort have signed an agreement set to turn Durban's King Shaka airport into a regional hub. The airline will soon start flights from King Shaka airport to Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. No further details have been given regarding specific routes, frequencies and launch dates.

Precision Air Introducing Harare Service

Tanzanian based airline, Precision Air will begin service to Harare International Airport starting June 2nd, 2012. The flights will be operating on a 3 week basis, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday out of Dar Es Salaam via Lilongwe.
PW 705 departs Dar Es Salaam at 10.30am arriving in Lilongwe at 11.05am before proceeding to Harare where arrival time will be 1.05pm. The return journey departs Harare at 1.55pm arriving in Dar Es Salaam at 4.40pm. No official announcement has been made about this route but flights are available for booking through online agents.

BA/Comair Increasing Harare Service

British Airways franchise carrier Comair starting April 4th 2012 will be increasing service on the Harare-Johannesburg route, which increases from Daily to 10 weekly. The new 3 weekly service operates at night-time from Johannesburg, early-morning from Harare using 737-300 a/c.

Schedule:

BA6267 JNB1220 – 1355HRE 734 D
BA6265 JNB1840 – 2015HRE 733 347
BA6266 HRE0700 – 0840JNB 733 145
BA6268 HRE1435 – 1615JNB 734 D

SAA Schedule Change

Starting March 25th 2012, South African Airways will be adjusting its schedule resulting in more convenient connection opportunities to and from SAA’s international flights. Flight times for SA028 and SA029 between Johannesburg and Harare will be optimized. SA028 and SA029 will also be upgraded to wide body A330 aircraft on Fridays, accounting for the typically higher demand on that day. SAA is also operating wide-body aircraft on Thursdays flight SA 022/023.

Air Zimbabwe Fails to Resume Flights

Struggling Air Zimbabwe which was supposed to resume flights yesterday failed to do so due to its current debt crisis and striking working force. The airline was supposed to resume flights to local destinations including Bulawayo and Victoria Falls but so far no updated report has been posted on their website. Will keep you posted on any new updates.

Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Scheduled for Harare

Effective 16th September 2012, Ethiopian Airlines will operate Boeing 787 direct service four times a week to Harare. Operational dates are Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday service will be operated by 737-800 a/c. Although the route mentioned above is now open for reservation, there is a chance for 787 inaugural date to be altered pending on delivery time frame.

Emirates Schedule Change

 Starting March 25th, Emirates EK 714 will have a change in schedule. Currently the flight departs HRE at 19.20 but will soon change its departure time to 1850 arriving in LUN at 19.50. Arrival in DXB will be at 0640. EK 713 remains unchanged.

Benefit of Low Cost Carriers to Zimbabwe

South African Low Cost Carriers such as 1time Airlines and Velvet sky have show great interest in plying the Zimbabwe routes including Harare and Victoria Falls. A report showed that 1time had applied for landing slots but whether or not the applications were approved has not yet been confirmed. Currently the Hre-Jnb route is one of the busiest International routes within Africa but one of the most expensive to travel. The average price for a return ticket can cost between $440 and $600 on either South African Airways or British Airways (Comair) with Air Zimbabwe having canceled their service on this route. The introduction of LCC's on these routes can lower fares by close to 50% which will mean fares will cost around $200-$300, a big difference compared to the current fares. It will definitely prove beneficial for your average business and leisure traveler who in the past might have had to make the journey by car or bus which takes 14-16 hours and also avoids the recurring problems at the borders. Personally i think the route can start off with a twice daily service between Jnb and Hre (which is basically taking over Air Zim's service) then a once daily service between Jnb-Vfa. Other options include service to and from Lanseria airport in Johannesburg which has cheaper landing costs. Hopefully we can see such a development here in the near future.

Air Zimbabwe Resuming Flights

 According to the Air Zimbabwe website www.airzimbabwe.com the airline will be resuming flights starting February 20th. Operations will resume with limited services as follow:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday

Harare/Bulawayo/Victoria Falls	0700/0815 - 0845/1000
Victoria Falls/Harare	1030/1215

The airline will also be restoring services to normal levels gradually and the traveling public and industry will continuously be informed.