ROYAL Dutch Airlines KLM yesterday resumed flights between Harare and Amsterdam, 13 years after it stopped plying the route, the airline said.
KLM will run three weekly flights between Harare and Schiphol airport. By adding Harare to its destinations, “KLM (now) has a strong network and position in Africa,” its executive vice president for marketing Pieter Bootsma said in a statement on the airline’s website.
Over the past decade international airlines, including Qantas, Air France, Lufthansa pulled out of Zimbabwe due to dwindling passenger numbers as tourists were scared off by political violence.
Flag carrier Air Zimbabwe has downsized due to frequent strikes and huge debts incurred as the airline tries to maintain an ageing fleet. It now flies only to domestic destinations, including the prime tourist resort of Victoria Falls.
Foreign airlines have come in to fill up the space to regional and international destinations.
Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways and South African Airways are some of the regional airlines that maintained services into Zimbabwe despite the political turmoil. – Sapa
