UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE

ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE

ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE/ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE/ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE

EXTRA TO EDITION #9 29 OCTOBER 1997

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QUANTAS DELAYS DECISION ON HARARE

Australian carrier Qantas has delayed its decision to withdraw from Harare until at least March 1998. The service had planned to cease flying to Harare from October 24 and to only service Johannesburg. At present the airline flies to Jo'burg four times a week, with two of those flights making a brief stop in Harare.

The Zimbabwe service gives Qantas an advantage over other airlines flying to Africa from Asia and Australia. All other airlines, including Malaysian, Singapore, Cathay and Air Mauritius terminate in Johannesburg. Air Mauritius offers Harare as a destination but only Qantas offers a same-plane service between Australia and Zimbabwe.

The outbound Qantas service from Harare also provides Zimbabwe with a service to Asia, via Perth. Malaysia and Singapore are investing heavily in Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries and the Harare flight is a natural link between the south-central Africa and the Malay peninsular.

The withdrawal will also see the end of Air Zimbabwe's operations in Australia because the airline buys space on the Qantas flight and doesn't have the aircraft to fly the Harare-Sydney route.

Fopreign airlines have been moving their operations from Harare to the lucrative hub of Johannesburg, but the major carriers - including Lufthansa, KLM, Swissair and Air France - still bring two flights a week to Zimbabwe, routed via Jo'burg. British Airways flies four times non-stop between Gatwick and Harare.

The continued presence of the major airlines in Harare is based on good inbound business and maintaining a fallback position in case of problems in South Africa.

Britain and Germany are Zimbabwe's largest source of tourists followed by the USA and then Australia.

While South Africa has surprised the pessimists with its peaceful transition to democracy, some carriers admit privately that, in an unpredicatable market like Africa, they need to keep their options open and Harare is the only viable alternative in Southern Africa.

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From: AfricaNN@inform-bbs.dk (Africa_news Network) Date: Sat, 01 Nov 1997 13:28:13 +0100 Subject: ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE Message-ID: <3017342942.113831194@inform-bbs.dk>

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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