Staff Reporter
HARARE —The ambitious revival of the direct Harare-London air link reportedly suffered a major setback yesterday as the highly anticipated inaugural flight failed to depart from Harare International Airport for Gatwick, with sources saying passengers and stakeholders were left reeling from what critics are calling a broken promise by the authorities.
Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF) Chief Executive Officer Dr John Mangudya had publicly pegged July 1 as the definitive date for the resumption of the route, framing it as a cornerstone of the national airline’s strategic revival. This was the second deadline set by Mangudya, after a previous pledge to relaunch London flights “by June this year, or before June” was missed.
Despite these high-level assurances, the national carrier failed to deliver, according to sources who told this publication that the expected Air Zimbabwe service did not operate as scheduled.
The failure to launch marks a humiliating blow to the government’s efforts to reintegrate the national airline into the lucrative international market.
The route was intended to be operated through a 13-month Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) lease agreement with Spanish carrier Plus Ultra Líneas Aéreas. The deal was brokered to bypass the fact that Air Zimbabwe remains barred from European Union and UK airspace due to long-standing safety concerns.
This latest disruption gives credence to the fragile history of the London-Harare corridor. The national carrier last operated consistent direct flights to London in early 2012, using Boeing 767 aircraft, before the service collapsed under the weight of mounting financial debts and the impounding of aircraft by creditors.
For over 14 years, the Zimbabwean diaspora and business travellers have been forced to rely on indirect, time-consuming connections through hubs such as Johannesburg, Addis Ababa and Doha.
Expectations were high that this year’s relaunch would finally address this connectivity gap, with Dr Mangudya having previously touted the route as a primary objective of the Mutapa Investment Fund’s strategy to “resuscitate the national airline to its past glory”.
With the July 1 deadline now missed, the government faces renewed scrutiny regarding the operational readiness of its state-owned enterprises and the credibility of its public commitments.
Neither the Mutapa Investment Fund nor Air Zimbabwe had provided an explanation for the grounded flight at the time of writing, leaving travellers who had booked the inaugural service in a state of uncertainty.
This publication could not get comment at the time of writing. A search of recognised air tracking databases yielded no results.
There was no public ADS-B/tracking data showing an Air Zimbabwe or Plus Ultra aircraft operating the scheduled Harare-Gatwick service on July 1 2026.
