Air Zimbabwe will next month reintroduce the flights to Johannesburg from Victoria Falls route to cater for increased tourists expected to visit the country during the World Cup tournament. The one-month long soccer showpiece which kicks off on 11 June in South Africa is expected to attract about 300 000 tourists with a third of them projected to visit the country.

The manager (strategy and economics) at Air Zimbabwe, Mr Nobert Machingauta, told Business Chronicle yesterday that the re-introduction of the Johannesburg-Victoria Falls route was meant to promote the country’s tourism industry. Flights on the route were suspended in 2006 at a time when western countries issued adverse travel warnings to their citizens visiting Zimbabwe. The travel warnings have since been removed.

"On the first of June we will re-launch the Johannesburg-Victoria Falls route. This route is going to facilitate the services tourism sector in the country, thereby helping the sector to register big businesses from the tourists coming from South Africa. "The route will capture all the tourists and bring them to Victoria Falls which is a place where most tourists coming to the country will love to visit. The re-launch of the Johannesburg-Victoria Falls route is going to coincide with the World Cup tournament when many tourists are expected to visit South Africa," he said.

Mr Machingauta said the national airline would continue to operate the route even after the World Cup.

“We are optimistic that the country’s economy will continue on the recovery path, therefore we will not stop the Johannesburg-Victoria Falls route "As the economy recovers from economic downturn, Air Zimbabwe wants to return to the period between 1995 and 1996 when it was at its peak."

Mr Machingauta said Air Zimbabwe was ready to handle tourists expected to come to the country. "Now we are only waiting for the numbers. We have one stand-by Boeing 767 and one Boeing 737 just in case something happens". Asked on the latest developments concerning Air Zimbabwe’s search for a strategic partner, he said the search was an ongoing process. "It might take years or months before we conclude the search. Now we are having consultations with our shareholders," he said.

The chairman of Air Zimbabwe, Mr Jonathan Kadzura, said the search for a strategic partner was at an advanced stage but declined to divulge more information preferring to say it was confidential. "We are talking to a number of potential partners from within and outside the country. As for now I don’t want to speculate on when we are going to conclude our search for a partner but the process is ongoing," he said.