by BERNARD CHIKETO
THE LAST time an Air Zimbabwe jet touched down at Gatwick, Barack Obama was still in his first term, “Gangnam Style” was conquering the charts and the country’s economy was in freefall.
Fourteen years, one currency collapse and several failed turnaround plans later, the national carrier has finally done what it has repeatedly promised but never delivered: restored a direct link between Harare and London.
On Monday morning, under a winter sun at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, a gleaming Airbus A330-300 in the national colours rolled to a stop before ministers, diplomats and a visibly emotional crowd. The aircraft—acquired not through purchase but via a 13-month wet-lease from Spanish carrier Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas—will begin servicing the route three times weekly from Wednesday.
Transport Minister Advocate Felix Mhona, presiding over what he called a “momentous occasion,” described the wide-body jet as “sparkling, splendiferous and glittering”.
Behind the rhetoric lies a harder reality: Air Zimbabwe has an arrangement, the aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance are not under its operational autonomy, the airline however has commercial control.
It is a strategy increasingly adopted by cash-strapped African carriers seeking to restore international services without the crippling capital outlay of owning wide-body equipment.
Yet the market has responded with surprising enthusiasm.
Mhona announced that the airline has already recorded 1,479 confirmed passenger bookings and more than 30 tonnes of cargo for the route—figures he called “an extraordinary expression of confidence”.
The cargo dimension may prove as consequential as the passenger traffic: long-haul airlines increasingly depend on freight revenues to strengthen route economics, and the restoration of direct flights is expected to improve market access for Zimbabwe’s horticultural producers and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The route’s revival is also a test of the Mutapa Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund to which the government transferred the national carrier as part of a broader effort to restructure struggling state-owned enterprises.
Dr John Mangudya, the fund’s chief executive, noted that more than 108,000 passengers travelled between Harare and London last year alone, “forced to navigate exhausting, multi-stop regional transits”. “We promised the nation that we would bring this symbolic route back to life by mid-2026, and today we deliver on that promise,” he said.
The inaugural flight is scheduled for Wednesday, with departures from Harare on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and return services from London Gatwick on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The Airbus, configured with 302 seats—30 in business and 272 in economy—will operate from Gatwick’s South Terminal.
Promotional fares start from $495 one-way from Harare to London.
For a country that has spent more than a decade watching its flag carrier wither, the sight of a wide-body jet in national colours is undeniably stirring.
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