Fastjet in maiden Dar es Salaam-Harare flight

By Arthur Chatora

HARARE – London Stock Exchange-listed low-cost airline Fastjet flew its maiden flight to Zimbabwe on Tuesday on the Dar es Salaam-Harare route.

The airline will service the route twice weekly with one way  tickets available from as low as $50 — (excluding government charges and taxes) and approximately $114 including government taxes, significantly cheaper than fares from operators offering non-direct flights between the two cities.

Fastjet said ticket sales for the route have been strong, with many of the first flights from Harare to Dar-es-Salaam having sold out weeks before flights commence.

Ed Winter, interim chairman and chief executive, said “sales on our newest route have far surpassed expectations and only a handful of seats remain for travel to Tanzania from Zimbabwe in August, with this trend continuing well into September bookings.  We hope to meet this demand by adding additional flights on this route in due course”.

Zimbabwean traders and car importers use the port at Dar es Salaam extensively while  Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Zanzibar to the east of Tanzania are popular tourist destinations.

This follows recent licensing by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (Caaz) of four operators, Fastjet, Fly Africa, Victoria Falls Airways and Solenta Aviation, bringing the number of international airlines operating in Zimbabwe to 19.

Zimbabwe’s Transport minister Obert Mpofu, said: “The government of Zimbabwe is delighted that Fastjet is expanding its international route network to include Harare and that in doing so is bringing its low-cost, reliable and safe service to the people of Zimbabwe.”

Meanwhile, Air Zimbabwe this week resumed commercial flights on the Harare-Kariba-Victoria Falls route, a development expected to boost business and tourism travel. Daily News