First daily Fastjet flights between Harare and Bulawayo
The airline currently flies between Harare and Johannesburg four times daily, between Harare and Victoria Falls twice daily, and up to three times a week between Victoria Falls and Johannesburg.
“We have been pursuing this route designation for several years,” says Fastjet chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout. “We are delighted to see that positive changes in the Zimbabwean environment made this development possible, enabling low-fare connectivity between more domestic destinations.”
While the airline is launching with a single frequency at present, it intends to grow the route following further consultation with stakeholders and ultimately to introduce additional aircraft to facilitate growth.
The 2017 ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) study shows that aviation creates substantial up and downstream economic benefits. The air transport industry employs around 381,000 people in Africa and contributes more than $9bn to the continent’s GDP.
“The catalytic impact of aviation stretches this to around 6.8 million jobs and $72.5bn toward GDP. On a country and city scale airlines benefit local tourism, supply chain procurement and on average the market entry of a carrier on any new route stimulates job creation of around 100-200 opportunities across various sectors,” says Bezuidenhout.
With the addition of the Harare Bulawayo route, Fastjet’s network in Zimbabwe now totals four destinations with more than 100 weekly flights.
