Air Zimbabwe Set To Relaunch Harare–London Service On 1 July

Air Zimbabwe is set to return to London Gatwick on 1 July 2026 after signing a 13-month ACMI lease agreement with Spain’s Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas, which will operate the flights from Harare using an Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft.

The arrangement was brokered by Chapman Freeborn Aviation Services, with flights expected to operate several times a week under the Air Zimbabwe flight code. This was confirmed by Plus Ultra in a statement distributed via the Spanish news agency Europa Press.

The ACMI deal allows Air Zimbabwe to resume the route despite remaining banned from European Union airspace for failing to meet international safety standards, as set out on the EU Commission’s Air Safety List.

Plus Ultra operates five A330-200s and two A330-300s, although it has not specified which aircraft will be used for Air Zimbabwe’s services.

Air Zimbabwe last operated flights to London in December 2011, when financial pressures, creditor action and regulatory challenges forced it to suspend its Boeing 767-200 operations.

Since then, several attempts to relaunch the route have failed, despite strong commercial potential driven by demand from Zimbabwe’s diaspora in the United Kingdom and export opportunities for horticultural products.

The restart comes as Air Zimbabwe undergoes restructuring under its 100% state-owned shareholder, the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF), Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund.

MIF chief executive officer John Mangudya is leading the airline’s revival plan, including the planned return of the London service.

More: Ch-Aviation

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