Air Zimbabwe (UM, Harare International) is considering adding smaller turboprops to its fleet as it seeks to open up services to remote tourist hotspots.
Zimbabwean Minister for Tourism, Walter Mzembi, told NewsDay the state-owned carrier was looking at 25-seaters to develop services from each of Harare International and Victoria Falls to remote towns such as Masvingo (gateway to Great Zimbabwe), Kariba, and Mutare.
Air Zimbabwe's smallest aircraft at present is the Chinese-manufactured MA-60 which seats a total of fifty-two. Until recently, the turboprop was deployed on domestic services connecting Harare to Victoria Falls and Bulawayo. It was also used in resurrecting flights to Kariba, Chiredzi, and Masvingo in 2014 but met with little success given weak demand for the routes.
"I am quite privileged to know that there is quite a lot of activities happening in transport to bring smaller aircraft 25-seaters that will then pick people from Victoria Falls to Great Zimbabwe, Kariba and Eastern Highlands," he said. "We are now internally distributing that traffic. That is the thrust that is the strategy. Equally from Harare it should be an air traffic hub, Bulawayo the same. So that these lighter aircraft will distribute the traffic."
Zimbabwe's government has singled out tourism as a key means of raising foreign currency for its depleted national coffers. According to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, Zimbabwe received 2.1 million tourists for the whole of 2016, earning the country USD890 million or 8.1% of its GDP. Mzembi has targetted a USD5 billion tourism contribution to the national economy from five million arrivals, contributing 15% to GDP by 2020.
