HARARE – Air Zimbabwe will resume flying to London by June 2026 after a 14-year hiatus, Mutapa Investment Fund chief executive John Mangudya has said.
The national carrier is implementing a fleet restructuring plan that includes disposing of two Boeing 777 aircraft acquired from Malaysia Airlines but never placed into service.
“The government has given us authority to sell the Boeing 777s, and the proceeds will be used to pay a deposit for new, smaller aircraft for domestic flights,” Mangudya said on Friday while speaking during a public lecture at the Harare Institute of Technology.
He added that Air Zimbabwe was also working on leasing a wide-body aircraft to service long-haul routes, particularly to the United Kingdom, home to a large Zimbabwean diaspora.
“We are also putting in place a facility to lease a bigger plane, one of these Boeings, to fly the Harare–London route, and good progress has been made,” he said.
Mangudya said he had been informed that flights to London could resume by mid-year. Previous deadlines by successive transport ministers and Air Zimbabwe executives to resume flights to London since the last flight in December 2011 came and went. This time, Mangudya says they are as sure as they can ever be: Air Zimbabwe will land in London soon.
“I was advised by the chairman and chief executive of Zimbabwe that by June this year, or before June, we will be flying to London. That route is one of the most lucrative in Africa because it is a direct service from here to the UK,” he said.
He added that the route would also revive direct exports.
“In the past, we used to export our horticulture and by morning it would be in the shops in the UK,” Mangudya said.
The Mutapa Investment Fund has taken over all state-owned enterprises, absorbing significant debt, including from Air Zimbabwe, which has suffered a steady decline over the past three decades.
Air Zimbabwe currently operates two Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft on domestic and regional routes, while some of its ageing Boeing 737s and Boeing 767s are occasionally leased out but largely remain in storage.
