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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

LOW-Cost Zimbabwean airline, Fastjet, will soon introduce direct flights linking Victoria Falls to South Africa’s Kruger International Airport, which is located in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga province.

Fastjet communications representative, Mr Nunurai Ndawana, told tourism stakeholders at an occasion termed “Small but Mighty”, to celebrate work and achievements made by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism industry in Victoria Falls, that the service will start in March next year.

Fastjet is one of the working partners on the “Small but Mighty” programme with Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), We are Victoria Falls Initiative, Boundless South Africa and others.

“As Fastjet we continuously demonstrate our support of the local tourism industry. This has been seen by our close collaboration with ZTA and other tourism players in Zimbabwe and South Africa,” he said.

“Today I am proud to announce that Fastjet will be launching flights from Victoria Falls to Nelspruit’s Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport in South Africa as of 16 March 2022. Initially on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.”

“This route demonstrates Fastjet commitment to the development of tourism in Zimbabwe and the region. It will bring to three the number of destinations that Fastjet has linked to Victoria Falls with scheduled regular flights after Harare and Johannesburg.

“We too are a small enterprise and yet we have mighty. As a proud Zimbabwean airline, we will continue to offer our customers value, choice and flexibility,” said Mr Ndawana.

Fastjet is growing its service impact in the aviation market in Zimbabwe and South Africa having demonstrated resilience amid turbulent crosswinds induced by Covid-19.

“During that challenging period from April to October 2020 we were the only carrier offering repatriation flights between Zimbabwe and South Africa re-uniting people with their loved ones and ensuring that essential staff had a reliable means to travel.

“Upon lifting of travel restrictions and re-opening of the air borders between Zimbabwe and South Africa, we were the first airline to land at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on October 1 2020. We were the first airline to re-introduce services from Victoria Falls to Johannesburg in December 2020 and provided a needed commercial link between the two destinations, with a three-days a week service,” said Mr Ndawana.

Fastjet increased frequency to daily service in May this year and has not looked back. -@ncubeleon