Namibia: FlyNamibia set to launch flights to Zimbabwe!

Namibian domestic and regional carrier FlyNamibia is set to introduce a new service to Zimbabwe. The airline will launch a three-weekly service between Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH) in Windhoek and Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) in Victoria Falls. Effective 04 April 2024, FlyNamibia will operate return flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to Victoria Falls.
The Managing Director of FlyNamibia, Andre Compion, announced in Jon Howell's AviaDev Insight Africa podcast earlier this month that the airline is not only planing to launch flights to Victoria Falls in April 2024, but also a new service to Maun in Botswana. We'll keep you posted!

online flight booking on TravelComments.com >>

Airports Company Zimbabwe introduces (free) Wi-Fi at major international airports in Zimbabwe!

Airports Company of Zimbabwe (ACZ), which currently manages and operates a network of eight airports in Zimbabwe, and Dandemutande, a Zimbabwean Internet connectivity solutions provider, have entered into a partnership to provide Wi-Fi at Zimbabwe's major international airports. The service, named "Uspot" is already functional at RG Mugabe International Airport (HRE) in Harare, and, according to state-owned Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald, will also be introduced at Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) in Victoria Falls and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport (BUQ) in Bulawayo. "Uspot" gives users free 100 megabytes of data; additional data has to be paid for. 

@Airports_Zim and @DandemutandeZW have entered into a partnership to provide Wi-Fi at the major airports Victoria Falls, J M Nkomo and R G Mugabe airport.

Uspot gives free 100 megabytes then you pay for additional data.

Brick upon brick we will get there pic.twitter.com/ymN5Ekqugk

— Airports Company Of Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 (@Airports_Zim) December 4, 2022

Zimbabwe: Date of the official launch of the upgraded Victoria Falls International Airport has been announced!

The newly upgraded Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA), located about 20km south of the town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, will be officially opened on 18 November 2016. The airport underwent massive modernization, renovation, and expansion works that took about 36 month. The upgrade of the airport was done in two phases:

Phase one:

• construction of a new terminal building
• construction of a new 4km runway
• conversion of the existing 2.2km runway into a taxi way
• construction of a new road network
• construction of a new car park
• construction of a new fire station
• construction pf a new control tower

Phase two:

• renovation and conversion of the old terminal building into a fully-fledged domestic terminal

Parts of Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA), such as the international terminal, the new runway and the new control tower became already operational in December 2016. The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) initially planned the offical commission the airport to take place in May 2016 (and before that at various dates in 2015), but had to postpone the date due to delays in construction.
The work to upgrade Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) began in 2013 and was financed through the ExIm Bank of China.

Zimbabwe: Victoria Falls Airport opens in September 2015!

update (12 May 2016): I didn't follow the story anymore, so I learned only just now that the opening of Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) has again been delayed. The new opening date is... at the end of the year! According to Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ), the opening of the new international airport will be determined by the current works on the old terminal. Well... we'll try to keep you posted!

update (09 Dec 2015): Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) terminal was opened to passengers on 02 December 2015. The official opening of the airport will take place on 13 December 2015.

update (02 Oct 2015): According to Zimbabwean newspaper Financial Gazette (online edition 01 Oct 2015), the facelift and expansion of the Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) is due to be completed at the end of October 2015.

update (14 Sept 2015): The completion of the Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) expansion project initially set for the end of September 2015 has been extended to 31 December 2015, the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) has confirmed.

update (11 Sept 2015): According to Zimbabwean news website The Source, Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) in Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) will miss the September 2015 completion deadline. However, the government of Zimbabwe remains hopeful that it can still be commissioned in 2015. We'll keep you posted!

update (09 July 2015): Despite reports that the construction work at Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) will only be complete by December 2015, Zimbabwe's Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Walter Mzembi, revealed that the new look multi-million airport will be commissioned in September 2015.

update (29 April 2015): The new international passenger terminal of the Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) is expected to have a handling capacity of 1.5 million passengers per annum; the existing terminal building will be converted into a fully-fledged domestic terminal.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ), the new look multi-million dollar Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) in Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) will be ready for commissioning in by the end of September 2015. The airport's runway is currently 90% complete (ready by July 2015) and the new terminal is at 65%; the tower is set to be complete by July 2015.
Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA), located about 18km south of the town of Victoria Falls, is undergoing a massive expansion project since April 2013.

Zimbabwe: The Victoria Falls International Airport expansion project >>

Zimbabwe: The Victoria Falls International Airport expansion project

update (29 April 2015): The expansion of Victoria Falls International Airport also includes:
check-in counters with modern technology; airside shuttle bus service; ten immigration counters and three baggage carousels in the International Arrivals Hall; increased duty free and retail space; first-, business-class and smoking lounges; landside restaurants and coffee shops; banking facilities that accommodate Visa and MasterCard transactions; free WiFi; bureau de change; car hire and taxis services.

update (27 Nov 2014): According to nehandaradio.com, the expansion works at Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) are now expected to be finised by August 2015 due to construction materials procurement bottlenecks.

update (22 Oct 2014): According to newzimbabwe.com, the completition of the refurbishment of Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) will be delayed by three months after the contractor requested an extension. The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) expects the all the project works to be completed by June 2015.

Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA), located about 18km south of the town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, is currently undergoing a massive expansion project. The project started in April 2013 and should be completed in April 2015. It is expected to cost US$150 million in total. As of April 2014, the expansion proect is, according to news reports, on schedule with the runway 41% done while the terminal building is 23% complete.

The expansion of Victoria Falls International Airport includes:

• the construction of a new 20,000m² international terminal building with a capacity to service 1.2 million people per annum
• the construction of a new parallel 4 000m runway to cater for wide body aircraft in the class of Boeing 747
• the construction of a new control tower
• the construction of a new fire station
• the development of additional landside road networks
• the development of additional airside road networks
• the development of new car parking spaces
• the transformation of the existing terminal building into a fully-fledged domestic terminal
• the transformation of the current runway into a full-length taxiway to service the new runway

Zimbabwe: Victoria Falls International Airport regarded as "unsafe" by MPs

NewZimbabwe.com, the online edition of The New Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe’s weekly tabloid newspaper published in the United Kindom, is quoting members of the Zimbabwean Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport (06 Jan 2011) saying "that it is unsafe to land planes at the Victoria Falls International Airport (VFA) because of an antiquated instrument landing system."
So if you are planning to fly up to Victoria Falls rather fly into Livingstone (LIV) in Zambia than into VicFalls. It might be safer... and cheaper!

online flight booking on TravelComments.com >>

weekly price comparison - one way flights in Southern Africa >>