From MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe
HARARE – A new commercial airline, Rainbow Airlines, will soon launch in Zimbabwe to offer competition to the struggling national carrier.
Rainbow Airlines will take to the sky on January 25 as an alternative to Air Zimbabwe.
The wholly Zimbabwean-owned company will start by servicing the Harare-Johannesburg route on a daily basis and the Harare-Victoria Falls route.
The airline has also earmarked the Harare to Cape Town route.
Rainbow Airlines will be flying the 50 seat Bombardier CRJ100 aircraft – which is much smaller than the traditional aircraft used by other airlines on the Harare-Johannesburg route.
Chief Executive Officer, Ed Berry, said they were expecting to get a second CRJ100 aircraft within the first four months of operation, to assist in servicing the increased routes and frequencies.
“Rainbow Airlines hopes to become the most preferred airline in Zimbabwe and then in the region,” he said.
There are prospects Rainbow Airlines will service other routes including the Harare -Nairobi, Harare -Lubumbashi and Kinshasa, Harare-Durban, Bulawayo -Johannesburg, Harare-Beira and Maputo.
Later, international destinations and more domestic routes will be applied for including Harare to – Kariba, Bulawayo, Mutare, Hwange, Masvingo, Buffalo Range and Beit Bridge, said Berry.
He said the airline has gone through the certification processes and all is now set for operations to begin.
– CAJ NEWS