Air Zimbabwe will resume its direct Airbus A330 flights between Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare (HRE), and London Gatwick (LGW) after a 14-year hiatus. A long-term Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance package (ACMI) has been carefully brokered by the British company Chapman Freeborn, enabling the airline to restore this important route.
The last scheduled flight on this route by Air Zimbabwe was in December 2011, when its Boeing 767 was impounded after the airline failed to pay a substantial debt for aircraft spares. There have been no direct routes available since.
Three direct flights a week will initially be operated with a leased Airbus A330-300 from the Spanish carrier Plus Ultra (PU), with a total capacity of 302 seats. The route (with approximately 10 hours of flight time) is expected to begin at the end of July and, in addition to transporting passengers, will likely also support freight.
The ACMI deal will come as a lifeline for the airline, which has recently come under further financial scrutiny. At the beginning of 2026, the carrier announced its five-year turnaround plan.
Daniel Huggins, Director of ACMI & Leasing at Chapman Freeborn, explained further about the ACMI:
“Long-haul ACMI programmes require close coordination between airlines, operators, aviation authorities and commercial partners, from aircraft suitability and planning to regulatory requirements and operational readiness. In this case, our team supported the project from a capacity and contract management perspective, helping to bring together the right structure for a strategically important route. This project demonstrates how collaborative capacity solutions can help airlines restore important routes and bring strategic services back to market.”
The airline’s story began in 1946, when Central African Airways (CAA), based in Zambia, was the joint carrier for Nyasaland, Southern Rhodesia, and Northern Rhodesia. The partnership was dissolved in 1967, when Air Rhodesia (RH) was born. In 1980, the carrier became Air Zimbabwe when the African country gained independence.
Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, was formerly known as Salisbury (after the British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury) until the second anniversary of independence (1982), when it was renamed. The city offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the country’s rich heritage, from its pre-colonial past through to independence and now as a modern-day commercial and cultural hub. It is affectionately known as “the sunshine city” due to its year-round warm climate.
Have you missed this flight connection between Zimbabwe and London? Would you consider visiting the ‘sunshine city’ when direct flights resume? Let us know in the comments below.
