Fly Africa back in Zim Skies

BUDGET airline, flyafrica will resume its regional operations between Harare and Johannesburg this week after meeting all the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe's regulations amid revelations that the airline has temporarily suspended its domestic routes as it focuses on its core business.

In an interview with Sunday News Business, an official in the department of commercial services revealed that flights will resume this week on Friday for the Harare- Johannesburg route while the Bulawayo- Johannesburg route and daily service operations will start on 21 February and 15 February respectively.

The airline whose operations were suspended in October last year after the company's local majority shareholder Mr Chakanyuka Karase voluntarily submitted the carrier's Airline Operator Certificate (AOC) to CAAZ over an alleged boardroom dispute was recertified last year in December.

"We have decided to focus on our core business which are regional flights first as we regroup following our suspension. A number of our customers were let down by the suspension and we want to come back with better times and a better focus as we are learning from our mistakes," said the official on Friday.

She said domestic flights in Zimbabwe will resume later in the year.

"As a company we noticed that one of our mistakes was taking on too much too soon and our focus was divided hence delivering a poor service to our customers.

"Right now our aim is to rebuild trust with our customers as we understand the need to do good by them. We are working closely with CAAZ to improve service."

She added that refunding of customers who had booked flights prior to the suspension has also started.

The official said those who had booked directly at flyafrica could collect cash refunds or vouchers valued at one and half times fair value on Tuesday while those who booked through agents and the web would collect through those channels.

"The vouchers are valid for a year from the date of issue of the voucher. Customers have the option of a full cash refund or the one and half times the value of the ticket voucher which can be sold to someone else," she said.

flyafrica suspended the Zimbabwean partners who hold a 51 percent stake in flyafrica Zimbabwe saying the Karase family had unilaterally and illegally submitted the licence to CAAZ, an action that had cost the group revenue.

Captain Mathias Munyaradzi was temporarily appointed as Karase's replacement while Mr Blessing Munyenyiwa is the chief executive officer.

flyafrica introduced its first aircraft- Z-FAA in August 2014 to service the Victoria Falls- Johannesburg route, flying three times a week on Sunday, Wednesday and Fridays which were later increased to four times a week to include Mondays due to the ability to break the 40 percent load factor average in just six weeks of flying to pricing. Sundaynews