Qatar Airways has enhanced its presence in southern Africa with the operation of linked flights to Lusaka’s Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Zambia and Harare’s Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Zimbabwe.
As well as serving Zambia’s largest city and commercial centre, Lusaka serves as the gateway to the country’s legendary tourist attractions from the Victoria Falls which it shares with Zimbabwe to game reserves and a variety of wildlife. Harare meanwhile offers access to World Heritage-listed archaeological sites, and diverse natural landscapes, as well as Zimbabwe’s capital.
To mark the addition of these two locations to the airline’s network, the new linked service was inaugurated by the airline’s state-of-the-art Airbus A350-900, which was greeted on arrival in Lusaka and Harare by traditional water cannon salutes upon arrival. The award-winning airline now operates to 27 cities in Africa, with six new destinations including Lusaka and Harare during the COVID pandemic. Earlier this year it also added four routes to Accra in Ghana, Abidjan in Ivory Coast, Abuja in Nigeria and Luanda in Angola. It has also restarted services to Alexandria, Cairo and Khartoum. The airline also signed an interline agreement with RwandAir giving customers greater access to the combined networks of both airlines.
“We have ambitious plans for Africa, which is one of the fastest-growing economic regions of the world, with rising consumer demand and an abundance of natural resources,” said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Akbar Al Baker.
“We see enormous potential in not just outbound travel from Zimbabwe and Zambia, but also inbound traffic from India, UK, and the Americas. We look forward to strengthening trade and tourism links between Zimbabwe and Zambia, and destinations on the Qatar Airways network, and to steadily growing these routes to support the recovery of tourism and trade in the region.”
In addition to commercial passengers, businesses and traders will also benefit from the airline’s cargo offering, allowing more than 30 tonnes of cargo capacity per week, each way to support the two countries’ exports such as vegetables and flowers to destinations around the globe on the Qatar Airways network.
