via Flyafrica in maiden Zim flight – DailyNews Live 3 November 2014
HARARE – Budget airline Flyafrica is expected to make its maiden Johannesburg to Harare flight today, in a development that is expected to see air travelling becoming affordable for most Zimbabweans.
Mati Karase, the carrier’s country manager, said flying is widely perceived “as a preserve for the affluent” in Zimbabwe and low cost airlines will “demystify” that.
“For that sort of flight, one shouldn’t pay in excess of $300 on a return ticket. We bring low-cost flying to the industry,” he said.
In August, Flyafrica introduced flights between the Victoria Falls resort town and Johannesburg, charging fares between $50 and $70, excluding taxes – way below South African and British airways that service the route.
The airline is a partnership between Fresh Air and Mike Bond of the now defunct One Time of South Africa.
It currently operates a 120-Boeing 737-5000 and is one of the few airlines currently landing in Zimbabwe. This comes as three months ago, Fastjet — a London Stock Exchange-listed low-cost airline — made its maiden flight to Harare from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The airline services 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.
In October, fastjet’s chief executive and interim chairperson Ed Winter said Dar es Salaam-Harare flights were performing very well.
He said although the route — including others to Lusaka and Entebbe from Dar es Salaam — is in its infancy, “there is every indication that these will develop into valuable routes for the fastjet Tanzania pan-African network.”
“Additional services from our Tanzanian base in Dar es Salaam to
Lusaka, Harare and Entebbe, linking these land-locked countries to the port of Dar es Salaam, have proven successful and are performing well,” he said.
Meanwhile, industry experts, say the coming in of budget airlines might hamper the revival of national carrier Air Zimbabwe, which is battling to regain market share locally and in the region.
Saddled with debt of more than $100 million, Air Zimbabwe has in recent years been facing severe operational problems that have seen it stop and start its operations.
Several regional and international airlines such as Emirates and Air Namibia have made a return to Harare after leaving the country due to concerns of a deteriorating economic and political environment.
COMMENTS
Air Zim can re brand itself however it likes the fact of the matter is that it’s dead. Dead dead dead forget it forever!!!!
Professor Chakanyuka Karase – Fresh air – 1time – Flyafrica – Nu Aero all familiar names – big ideas but people who only have overdrafts and zero capital …..
The flights were under a joint-venture partnership between South Africa’s troubled 1time and Zimbabwean aviation company Nu Aero.
1time eventually folded following a period of trying financial problems. The company filed for provisional liquidation last Friday, a move that left travellers stranded, although some analysts said the company would have been saved if the problems had been identified earlier.
The airline’s beleaguered financial position has now thrown Fresh Air – Zimbabwe’s first budget airline – into disarray because Nu Aero is stranded until it can secure aircraft for the flights. Fresh Air had traffic rights for three weekly flights between OR Tambo and Victoria Falls Airport in Zimbabwe using 1time aircraft.
An executive at Fresh Air told the Mail & Guardian this week that its management was unsure whether the budget airline – which launched its flights last Friday – would continue.
“The liquidation has come as a shock. We got the news soon after landing at Victoria Falls Airport on Friday. We are now uncertain of the future, although we have the option of finding another partner,” said the executive.
On its maiden flight last week, Fresh Air “had 102 passengers when we landed and returned with 126 passengers”, according to Fresh Air’s commercial director, Matipedza Karashe
Take your life in your hands. .maintenance done in Zimbabwe. Ha ha ha
Can’t even find spares for car in Zimbabwe. .would you fly with the maintenance done in Zimbabwe. .NEVER
We wish you good luck and I hope that in the very near future you will realize that my earlier suggestion to you to include Bulawayo in your V Falls to JHB route was a clever move..When will you learn to accommodate other people.Do not claim that this route is not viable before you even try it.
When SAA start marketing you out as soon as the new airport is completed,you will think of Bulawayo to Jhb route.Their new jumbo jets will be attractive and even cheap to kill rivals.Mark my words!!
It looks like the fares are still above $100 for a single trip if we add government fares,which is well above what you had promised before the commissioning of the service,however I still think it is a bit cheaper than the other two airliners with better resources to use to kill competition eg fuel cost in S Africa has gone done a lot per litre thus allowing these airlines to easily bring down their fares.