THE 9th Routes Africa Summit was officially opened in Victoria Falls, amid the call for foreign airlines to consider commencing flights to Zimbabwe as it is a world class, safe and peaceful destination.
The summit was officially opened by Vice-President Joyce Mujuru.
She said she was confident that flights to Zimbabwe will improve connectivity between the country and the Southern African Development Community, COMESA, the African continent and the entire globe.
Delegates, said VP Mujuru must see for themselves the true picture of Zimbabwe, which has been wrongly portrayed by the international media.
She called on airlines flying to the country to increase frequency.
Zimbabwe won the bid to host the Routes Africa Summit during the 8th Routes Africa Summit held in Kampala, Uganda, last year where issues such as Public, Private Partnerships for Airport Management and Development, enhanced airline connectivity and solutions for airport infrastructure in Africa were discussed.
The hosting of the Routes Africa Summit is expected to boost the country’s aviation and tourism industries which have a target of attracting airlines to match the 1996 figures in which the country had more than 45 foreign airlines flying into the country.
Routes Africa director, Katie Bland said low cost airlines are penetrating the industry and now account for 11 percent of the market share in the continent.
He revealed that a new low cost airline is set to commence services between Johannesburg, South Africa, and Victoria Falls next month.”
Aviation statistics show that for every three tourists that visit Africa, at least one job is created across the continent.
Africa contributes 2,3 percent to international air traffic.
The annual tourism growth across the world is just four percent, but there were around 1,3 million tourist arrivals in Africa in 2012, up 21,6 percent on the previous year.
If calls for a single visa or uni-visa to be introduced across all of Africa to ease access to foreign visitors between countries are heeded, then travelling will become easier for tourists.
Addressing delegates in Victoria Falls, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Dr Obert Mpofu said, “the vision to host the conference was to showcase the new Victoria Falls International Airport to global participants.”
The 9th Routes Africa Summit was running under the theme, ‘Accessing Africa`s Market Potential’ and has received the highest attendance since its inception nine years ago.
About 350 delegates including 40 foreign airlines, 50 airport authorities and 30 tourism authorities were part of the 9th Routes Africa Summit which has also witnessed the announcement of low cost airline Fast Jet set to commence flights between Dar es Salaam and Harare in August this year.
The announcement by Fast Jet follows an announcement by another low cost airline which will commence flights between Johannesburg and Victoria Falls next month.
Announcing the service at the ongoing Routes Africa conference in Victoria Falls, Fast Jet chief commercial officer, Richard Bodin said, the twice weekly flights will commence in August to promote trade and cultural links that exist between Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
He expressed optimism that the airline will introduce another flight to Victoria Falls once the performance of the Harare route has been assessed.
The Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Engineer Walter Mzembi who attended the summit said the move by Fast Jet, endorses Zimbabwe as an attractive and competitive destination.
The airline will use Airbus A319 on the route and bring the number of airlines flying to Zimbabwe to 16, among them the Royal Dutch Airline KLM, Ethiopian Airlines and Air Namibia among others.
While the entry of many airlines flying into the country is a welcome development, economic analysts have continuously implored government to recapitalise Air Zimbabwe so that the national flag carrier gets back on its feet.
They also say Zimbabwe has been a net payer which was paying out more than it was getting.
The foreign airlines were only paying out charges and repatriating at least 90 percent of all revenue.
Analysts also say no foreign airline can ever fly the Zimbabwean identity the way Air Zimbabwe has done and ever will unless it were a private local player.
Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) officials indicate that there are no losses being made by the country in allowing the various airlines to come into the country.
They claim that revenue is gained from aeronautical fees which include landing fees, en-route navigation fees, parking fees, passenger service fees and Temporary Air Service Permits Fees.
The Bilateral Air Services Agreements BASA which the different foreign airlines sign allow gained revenue to be transferred to the various airlines’ home countries.
While we as a country celebrate the return of Air Zimbabwe to the skies, the 9th Routes Africa Summit should successfully see the smooth running of the airline and return of the numerous routes Air Zimbabwe once flew to.