Mahogany Air (HOG, Lusaka) is planning to resume scheduled operations later this month once critical paperwork has been finalized with the Zambian Civil Aviation Authority (ZCAA).

“The CAA is working on some paper work and once they upgrade us to a level they want us to be, then we shall resume flights. What they are doing is a process which all airlines are supposed to go through and we thank Government for the encouragement during the difficult period,” CEO Jim Belemu told Zambia's Daily Mail.

Launched in March this year using an E120, ZS-TJB (cn 120267), leased from South Africa's Sahara African Aviation (Mbombela), Mahogany Air now operates a Beech 1900D, ZS-ORV (cn UE-42), sourced from an unknown South African lessor.

It currently offers scheduled services between Zambia's main city centres which includes Lusaka, Ndola International, Solwezi, Livingstone, Mfuwe, and Chipata in competition with Proflight Zambia (P0, Lusaka). Additional pressure is likely to come from Fastjet (Dar es Salaam) subsidiary, Fastjet Zambia (Lusaka), which was recently granted domestic Zambian traffic rights.