HARARE – Ministers on Tuesday said Air Zimbabwe will resume direct flights between Harare and London by the end of this month, ending an absence from the route stretching back nearly 15 years.
Information minister Zhemu Soda, briefing journalists after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, said the airline would utilise a leased Airbus A330-300 aircraft from Spanish carrier Plus Ultra with a combined 302 seats, configured with 30 business class and 272 economy seats.
“The nation is advised that the airline will resume operations by end of July 2026…,” Soda said.
The airline would initially operate three weekly frequencies between Harare and London on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
Air Zimbabwe last operated scheduled flights to London in December 2011, using Boeing 767-200 aircraft, before it mounting debts, creditor claims and operational challenges forced the route’s suspension.
At its peak, the airline flew six times weekly between Harare and London and also ran charter services linking the UK with Victoria Falls.
The airline has remained on the European Union’s Air Safety List since May 2017 over unaddressed safety deficiencies, and is separately barred from operating commercial services to, from and within the UK.
Under an Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) wet-lease arrangement, however, regulators permit banned carriers to exercise traffic rights using aircraft supplied by an approved operator – in this case Plus Ultra, which is providing the aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance while flights operate under Air Zimbabwe’s flight code. The arrangement was brokered by Chapman Freeborn Aviation Services.
The relaunch forms part of a wider restructuring drive by the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF), Air Zimbabwe’s shareholder, which has repeatedly flagged the London route as central to the airline’s recovery.
Industry data shows the Harare-London city pair generated roughly 108,000 two-way passengers in 2025 despite the absence of a direct service, with most travellers connecting through Addis Ababa, Dubai, Doha, Johannesburg or Nairobi.
The route is also seen as significant for Zimbabwe’s horticultural export trade, which previously relied on the direct London link to move fresh produce to British markets within 24 hours of harvest.
The airline has missed previous timelines for restoring the route, including an earlier target of June 2026 and widely-reported plans for a July 1 launch.
Source: ZimLive
