Zambia Airways will get back to the skies on 1st December, 2021, with its initial domestic flights from Lusaka to Ndola.
new Zambia Airways (ZN, Lusaka) will operate a frequency of five and six times a week to Livingstone and Ndola, respectively.
The new Zambia Airways is a joint venture established in August 2018 between the Industrial Development Corporation Limited (IDC), which holds 55% shareholding, and Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa), with 45% ownership which the shareholders had contributed USD30 million in capital towards the establishment of the airline.
According to a statement issued to the media by the Zambia Airways board, other domestic routes to Mfuwe and Solwezi will follow before introducing regional destinations, to Johannesburg and Harare, to its network within the first quarter of 2022.
The Zambia Airways established in 1964 ceased operations in 1994 is now set to resume operations this festive season using a fleet of three leased aircraft including two DHC-8-Q400s and one B737-800, reported The Lusaka Times. As previously reported, the aircraft are expected to be sourced from Ethiopian Airlines, which operates a fleet of twenty-seven Q400s and sixteen B737-800s.
The airline was initially to be launched on October 24, 2018, before being postponed for a second time to August 20, but its debut was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, re-certification procedures which were still ongoing by April 2021, and Zambia having had to ratify the Cape Town Convention to secure Zambia Airways’ leased fleet.
So far, 25 Zambian cabin crew members had been trained at the Ethiopian Aviation Academy and five Zambian pilots had been recruited who would receive type-training at Ethiopian Airlines.
The new flag carrier expected an uptick in domestic and regional travel with increasing vaccinations against COVID-19 in the region. The airline would also leverage on the modern infrastructure at the new Ndola airport and the newly-constructed Terminal Two at Lusaka.
The new Terminal Two at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka was formally commissioned on August 9, 2021, by the then Zambian President Edgar Lungu, who said his administration had invested more than $1 billion in the aviation sector.
The new facility was opened for international flights on August 5, 2021, according to a notice by the Zambia Airports Corporation Limited (ZACL). Domestic passengers will continue to be processed through the old Terminal One until further notice.
Other key milestones had included the acquisition of an Air Service Permit and an Air Operator Certificate (AOC), and the granting of the AZB designator code from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Who needs Zambia Airways? The economy? No UPND cadres? No The Zedian rural population that can see it in the skies as it ferries rich Zedians to make deals in foreign lands?
PF really worked… I dont if there will be any party in the near future that can bring such development
I think we need the Minister to give us the current status of this project. It’s just a few days ago that it was reported that he had made progress to reclaim the money that was paid to the manufacturers of the aircrafts, doesn’t that affect this project? I thought that claim was part of the process to withdraw from the project. So what’s happening?
All pfs work, and some Bush upnd member will come and say new dawn. F00Iish
UPND should just actualize it because it is in an advanced stage, other wise not necessary if you ask me.
Who will flag it off? HH?
PF still producing results 4 months out of office….kikikikikiki meanwhile HH vascodagama is sleeping at Meikles Hotel in Harare
The Zambia Airways was not established in 1964 but in 1967 please. heck your facts!
You can’t stop a good project like this one.
This is a good gesture to the Zambians living abroad really it had been a shameful thing to see a rich country in our own region can’t have it’s air line, while poorer nations can afford to fly some, this will add value to our flights back to home.
NARROW MINDED AND KNOWLEDGE LACKING IN THE AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY WILL OBVIOUSLY THINK IT A GOOD THING
ITS ONLY GONE AHEAD DUE TO FUNDS ALREADY ADVANCED WHICH WOULD FORFIETED
WAIT AND SEE
Yes stup!d KZ, indeed it was PF’s work. BUT CHINA’S MONEY! I wouldn’t be proud of that, I would be ASHAMED! By the way stup!d KZ, were you one of those ONE THOUSAND members of PF who defected to the UPND? Bet you were!
You are simply killing off already established airlines like Proflight using a foreign carrier like Ethiopian Airlines…in the end all these local airlines will fold up…we will be left with nothing
No corruption, I would rather eat my own faeces than join a tribal party like upnd
Irony is the backdrop is Ethiopian Airlines. Tells you the true picture; Ethiopian Airways in Zambia. Since govt has gone ahead even it’s technocrats advised against the deal, no more flying Qatar, emirates or S. African airways by all ministers, PSs and other govt officials. Enjoy your new Airline
Sell the presidential jets and purchase two A320’s and share the costs with the president. Kaunda’s presidential jet was shared. Imagine, he sent Zambia Airways to pickup Mandela because he didn’t trust the South African government at the time to fly Mandela to Lusaka safely. That’s how confident KK was with our national airline. Not utu tuma shoe string budget airlines.
FutureZed – There you go with you again with obtuseness ..you think a Gulfstream Jet can be sold off to purchase two A320s? Do you even know how much one A320 costs? If I post figures here you get offended ..You expect people to ignore your posts when your claptrap when you are cornered you start crying out loud…that someone is forcing his/her opinion on you. ..really laughable.
Wake up!!
FutureZed – There you go with you again with your obtuseness ..you think a Gulfstream Jet can be sold off to purchase two A320s? Do you even know how much one A320 costs? If I post figures here you get offended ..You expect people to ignore your comments when post your claptrap when you are cornered you start crying out loud…that someone is forcing his/her opinion on you. ..really laughable.
Wake up!!
What a joke!
Yawn!
CAN THE TR000LL START EATING HIS OWN FAECES
WHAT A F000LLL
Show us the planes. Also start flying to places like Mufuwe to boost tourism. Ethiopian Airlines are dead scared that the New Dawn Government will cancel the unbalanced and useless deal they signed with Pathetic Fo.o.Ls (PF)
Just launch it already. Munamvapo ija nkhani of the boy who shouted lion? No one believes you anymore. Even when the planes will be flying we will take a while to adjust to your new truth-telling. A mambala.
Remember running govt is not a marathon, its a relay where one team does its part and leaves another to come in an do its part also. Zedians, grow up! Insults and speech of bitterness/ hate don’t get us anywhere. Tolerance of difference of opinion and maturity go together- after all divergent views give us an opportunity to avoid eating nsima all the time so that some days we can enjoy rice….problem you want to think only your respective parties are better….a clear mark of being spoilt children..Now Zambia Airways in the air should be a good idea based on economic viability of this concept to local industrial trade and developed as well as on regional and international platform in this regard. PF had a good idea to have it back…UPND needs to help us will their economic ideas to…
Remember running govt is not a marathon, its a relay where one team does its part and leaves another to come in an do its part also. Zedians, grow up! Insults and speech of bitterness/ hate don’t get us anywhere. Tolerance of difference of opinion and maturity go together- after all divergent views give us an opportunity to avoid eating nsima all the time so that some days we can enjoy rice….problem you want to think only your respective parties are better….a clear mark of being spoilt children..Now Zambia Airways in the air should be a good idea based on economic viability of this concept to local industrial trade and development as well as on regional and international platform in this regard. PF had a good idea to have it back…UPND needs to help us will their economic ideas to…
@Tarino Orange, why don’t you post your googled figures and while you are there, also type in cheap way to buy. When ministers are throwing figures such as $2 billion just to build a road, your head goes into hibernation mode. Everything has a right price and consolidating on two aircrafts that the head of state has refused to use is not a bad idea. This does not mean you are doing a like for like. Learn to read man.
It is a pity that the PF will not be there when it collapses. They will blame the UPND. This is cut throat business and no time for games.
I can predict KZ will soon turn into an “Informer” just to save his neck from prosecution by the “The New Dawn” GRZ.
Watch the space!
Good observation. There should always be continuity of good projects after a change of government.
SOME COMMENTS AWE BANE LETS RESPECT EACH OTHER