Fastjet Zimbabwe (FN, Harare International) has secured its Air Operators Certificate (AOC) from the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) following demonstration flights around the country last week.

The airline, which obtained its Air Service Licence from the Zimbabwean Ministry of Transport in March, can now apply for international route allocations as a Zimbabwean carrier.

In the interim, operations are expected to launch on October 28 with a 3x weekly Harare International-Victoria Falls rotation using the start-up's sole aircraft A319-100 Z-FJE (cn 2281).

Fastjet Zimbabwe's launch comes at a difficult time for the Zimbabwean market with the country's battered economy in the throws of deflation having gone through world record inflation during the Zimbabwe Dollar-era which ended in 2009.

As it stands, Fastjet will compete with state-owned carrier Air Zimbabwe (UM, Harare International) and rival LCC Zimbabwe flyafrica (Harare International), which launched domestic and regional operations just over one year ago.