from DANIEL JONES in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Bureau
VICTORIA FALLS, (CAJ News) – AIR travel between the tourism capitals of Botswana and neighbouring Zimbabwe will increase with the launch of a flight connecting Maun and Victoria Falls respectively.
Fastjet Zimbabwe has launched the service that takes off on June 30.
The low-cost carrier is now selling tickets ahead of the inaugural flights.
It will start with the Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday schedule, using an Embraer ERJ145 aircraft.
“We have added Maun, Botswana to our route network from Victoria Falls gateway,” the airline confirmed in a statement.
“We are delighted to announce that from 30 June 2022, Fastjet will be flying directly from Victoria Falls to Maun, Botswana four times a week.”
Fastjet management is confident introducing Victoria Falls-Maun flights would add a direct scheduled travel option to tourists travel plans as they explored some attractions that both tourism capitals have to offer.
The new service sees Fastjet Zimbabwe operating scheduled flights into Botswana for the first time.
Fastjet already flies to Johannesburg and Nelspruit Kruger Mpumalanga from Victoria Falls, as the low cost airline seeks to connect Zimbabwe with Southern Africa’s key tourism markets.
It also offers flights from Bulawayo and Harare, the two major Zimbabwean cities.
Victoria Falls, at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe is world’s popular tourism hub for Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Maun is host to numerous safari and air charter operations that run trips into Okavango Delta.
Fastjet was the sole airline to maintain flights during the COVID-19 induced lockdowns.
It has set sights on expanding throughout Southern Africa.
Farai Chimba, the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe national chairperson, lauded Fastjet for increasing the network into Victoria as good for the destination as this makes it a tourism hub.
“There is a huge potential in marketing the Falls with extensions into Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. Fastjet has been playing a vital role in keeping tourism alive in the country,” said Chimba.
“Congratulations to Fastjet on launching the Victoria Falls-Maun route network which increases accessibility of destination Zimbabwe,” the tourism regulator’s executive stated.
Eurowings Discover’s flights into Victoria Falls, via Namibia, are scheduled to start next month.
– CAJ News