Zimbabwe’s new government aiming to revamp Air Zimbabwe

By Wallace Mawire [caption id="attachment_44097" align="alignleft" width="640"] Vice President Retired General Constantino Chiwenga[/caption] Zimbabwe’s minister of transport and infrastructural development, Joram Gumbo has been tasked by the new government to urgently revamp Air Zimbabwe to ensure that it plays its key role as a national flag carrier in facilitating the movement of tourists both locally and internationally. Constantino Chiwenga, Zimbabwe’s Vice President told delegates at a national tourism sector strategy validation workshop held by the ministry of Tourism and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) in Harare that the minister of transport was tasked to carry out the mandate within the 100 days period for economic turn-around initiatives from 1 January, 2018. According to Chiwenga, efforts are underway to acquire new state of the art equipment to improve aircraft and baggage handling at the National Handling Services (NHS) to make tourists’ experiences more memorable. “To boost tourist arrivals, it is critical for government and private sector to collaborate in developing air access infrastructure at tourist attractions such as the Eastern Highlands, Great Zimbabwe, the Lowveld and Mapungubwe,” Chiwenga said. He also added that plans are underway to develop new airports in Mutare and Beitbridge as well as refurbishments at Robert Mugabe international airport, Kariba and Buffalo Range airports.