Open skies policy bears fruit

GOVERNMENT’s commitment to implementing the open skies policy is continuing to bear fruit as more airlines are being lured to fly into the country. Although the year is still in its infancy, at least three airlines have already announced their intention to open new routes into Zimbabwe.

Rwanda national airline, RwandAir early last month announced that it will start flying between Harare and Kigali via Lusaka this year.

The route is one of six new African and international destinations it plans to be plying this year.

RwandAir is looking at initially introducing four flights per week using their 2 class 76 seater Bombardier CRJ900-NR aircraft with the possibility of upgrading their equipment to an Airbus depending on the numbers.

The announcement by RwandAir was followed by that of Ethiopian Airlines that it will launch new air services to seven destinations including Victoria Falls between February and June.

More recently Zimbabwe’s newest airline Rainbow Airline took to the skies on January 25. The open skies policy is enshrined within the Yamoussoukro Decision where African governments agreed to open their airspaces to each other’s airlines to improve intercontinental connectivity by air.

Zimbabwe is among 15 out of 30 African states that have made a commitment to implementing the decision.

The other countries are Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and South Africa.

The opening of the country’s airspace has great potential to boost the country’s aviation and tourism sectors.

The immediate one is that there will be greater connectivity beyond the capitals from which the airlines are coming from.

For instance Ethiopian airline already flies to 113 destination around the world and is opening seven new routes to Antananarivo (Madagascar), Conakry (Guinea), Oslo (Norway), Chengdu (China), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Singapore, which means the possibility of a spillover of traffic from these market to Zimbabwe.

This bodes well for the country’s tourism sector as the airline will be flying directly to Victoria Falls and the local tourism sector can tap into those market since there is a direct airlink to the resort town.

RwandAir on the other hand offers alternative routes alternative passage to Mumbai, London, Bamako, Conakry, New York and Lilongwe which are also rich source markets for tourists.

Already there has been discussions on the possibility of RwandAir doing the Harare-Kigali-Guangzhou, as well as the Harare-Kigali-London routes in the future.

From the Civil Aviation Authority perspective, the country’s airports, some of which have been undergoing rehabilitations are getting the much needed business that they require to remain viable.

The Victoria Falls Airport underwent a $150 million facelift which increased passenger handling capacity to 1,5 million per year, up from 500 000, which requires more aeroplanes, especially wide-bodied ones, to be landing at the airport.

Ethiopian airlines officials have already indicated that they intend to start servicing the Victoria Falls using a wide-bodied aeroplane, instead of a smaller plane, which shows that they are confident of the numbers that they will get on the route.

This is a big boost for the newly refurbished airport, which President Mugabe said should be fully utilised.

The coming in of Ethiopian airline is expected to lure other major airline to start flying into the resort town thereby ensuring that the airport moves closer to operating at maximum capacity.

CAAZ general manager Mr David Chawota believes that this is a good start for Victoria Falls airport.

“I am excited here we are we have just opened Victoria Falls International Airport, a new airport and new facility facilities, we want to sweat them.

“So here are the first movers in so far as utilisation of the airport is concerned so we are excited not only because of there is improved connectivity between Victoria Falls and Addis but also because we have a facility that could be put to good use,” he said.

The coming in of Rainbow Airlines brings in competition especially on the Harare and Johannesburg route which bodes well for the passenger and the Civil Aviation Authority.

The airline, which is set to introduce flights between Harare and Johannesburg three times a week using a 50 seater Bombadier CRJ 100 aeroplane sometime this month has indicated that it will not be a low budget airline but will seek to charge competitive fares.

The route is already being serviced by Air Zimbabwe, fastjet, South African Airways, South African Express Airlines and British Airways operated by Comair.

While the opening up of our skies is good it has also brought into question the ability of Air Zimbabwe to withstand competition leading to calls for Government to expedite the recapitalisation of the national airline which is currently struggling mainly due to the use of old equipment.

“We need Air Zimbabwe to be up and running so that we can also reciprocate because the agreement to open up the skies between any two countries are supposed to be reciprocal because it’s a Government to Government agreement,” said an aviation expert.

Travel agents, who have also hailed the development however, believe that while the announcements will help boost various sectors of the economy there was need to have a parallel process of enhancing air connectivity within the country.

Travel agent Pamela Hukwe said there was need to build on these positive developments by ensuring that the country has smaller planes that connects the country by air.

“Yes there is every reason to celebrate the coming in of new airlines but we need to build on that. The establishment of a new service by Ethiopian Airlines into Victoria Falls is particu- larly good for the tourism industry because I believe most of their passengers on that route will be tourists.

“As a country we need to ensure that once those tourists come through they are persuaded to visit other resorts that we have to offer besides the Victoria Falls and that requires connectivity of those areas by air because it is the most reliant, quick and efficient mode of transport,” she said.

Another agent, Henry Kondo also said local airlines and the tourism sector should work together on this aspect.

“Why do we still have no air connec- tion between Victoria Falls and Great Zimbabwe or Nyanga. Great Zimbabwe in particular will be a worthwhile destination to visit for any visitor because it best explains our heritage as a country.

“We need to have an air link between our resorts because tourists want to get around quickly and efficiently.

“CAAZ has been rehabilitating Buffalo range airport why are we not using it. Air Zimbabwe has already taken advantage of the rehabilitation of Kariba Airport to offer air service on that route let’s do the same with the other airports,” he said.