> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thecontrail.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Air Zimbabwe Is Flying to London Again After 14 Years. There's a Catch in How. - URL: https://www.thecontrail.org/air-zimbabwe-harare-london-gatwick-return/ - Published: 2026-09-22T16:49:39.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-22T16:49:39.000Z - Description: Zimbabwe's national airline is back at Gatwick with nonstop flights from Harare. It still isn't allowed to fly its own planes into Britain, so it found another way in. - Author: Gomolemo Mokonyane - Tags: News, Air Zimbabwe After 14 years away, Air Zimbabwe has landed back in London. The airline resumed nonstop flights between Harare and London Gatwick on July 22, a few weeks after the UK Civil Aviation Authority granted it a foreign operator permit, the license any overseas airline needs to fly scheduled service into Britain. Flights now run three times a week. They leave Harare on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Return flights depart Gatwick on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. For many Zimbabweans, and for travelers who remember the old service, it's a genuinely nostalgic moment. There's also a catch that most of the celebration skipped over. Harare to London ### Air Zimbabwe's Road Back to Gatwick 2007 **British Airways leaves Harare**Air Zimbabwe keeps the only nonstop Dec 2011 **A Boeing 767 is impounded at Gatwick**Seized over an unpaid debt 2012 **London service suspended** May 2017 **Added to the EU Air Safety List**Britain applies the same ban Jul 1, 2026 **UK operating permit granted** Jul 22, 2026 **Harare to Gatwick returns**On a wet-leased Plus Ultra A330 Schedule 3 flights a week Aircraft A330-300, 302 seats Lease runs 13 months Operated by Plus Ultra of Spain on Air Zimbabwe's behalf: 30 business class and 272 economy seats. Contrail --- ## Why It Matters Plenty of people travel between London and Zimbabwe, and until July almost none of them could do it without changing planes. Depending on the airline, that meant stopping in Dubai or Addis Ababa. Others routed through Johannesburg, Luanda or Kigali. Some trips needed two stops, adding hours and cost every time. A nonstop takes all of that out. A nonstop also gives southern Africa another direct link to Europe outside South Africa, where the London routes are among the most competitive on the continent. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic both fly daily nonstops to South Africa, and Air Zimbabwe has chosen not to compete there directly. --- ## How the Airline Fell Apart That long absence wasn't an accident. When Zimbabwe's economy entered a deep crisis in the early 2000s, the currency lost most of its value and the country eventually switched to the US dollar. As a state-owned airline, it went through frequent leadership changes and allegations of fraud and corruption among senior officials. IATA, the global airline trade body, suspended it at various points over unpaid debts. Pilot strikes became routine. Creditors began going after its aircraft. London's low point came in December 2011, when one of the airline's Boeing 767s was impounded at Gatwick over an unpaid debt. Service was suspended in early 2012. Then came the problem that still shapes everything today. In May 2017, Air Zimbabwe was placed on the EU Air Safety List, which bars listed airlines from flying their own aircraft into European airspace. Britain applied the same ban. ![a street sign that says you are now entering zimbawe](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1678059466227-d19beeff7557?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wxMTc3M3wwfDF8c2VhcmNofDJ8fHppbWJhYndlfGVufDB8fHx8MTc5MDA5NTczMXww&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=2000) Photo by Chloe Evans / Unsplash --- ## Getting Around the Ban That ban is still in force. So how is an airline that can't fly its own planes into Britain flying to Gatwick three times a week? It's using a wet lease, which the industry calls an ACMI deal. Under one, another airline supplies the aircraft and crew along with the maintenance and insurance. Spanish airline Plus Ultra supplies a 302-seat Airbus A330-300 along with its own pilots, cabin crew, maintenance and insurance. Air Zimbabwe sells the tickets, puts its flight code on the booking and handles the passengers. Safety regulators allow this because the flight is operated by a carrier that isn't on the list. In practice, that means passengers are flying on a Spanish-registered aircraft under Spanish safety oversight, whatever the logo on the ticket says. --- ## What Could Go Right, and Wrong This arrangement has real advantages. Air Zimbabwe can test whether London works commercially without buying or leasing a long-haul jet and taking on all the cost of crewing and maintaining it. It can focus on selling seats and marketing the route, which is where its energy belongs right now. Early signs are good, with the airline reporting full A330 flights and new cargo business alongside its passenger service. Control is the risk. Plus Ultra's deal runs for 13 months, after which it can be renewed or allowed to lapse. If it lapses and Air Zimbabwe hasn't lined up another aircraft, the route could disappear as quickly as it came back. Management has said it wants more aircraft, but it hasn't announced any firm orders. At home, Air Zimbabwe is also expanding domestically, with plans for services to Victoria Falls and Masvingo on smaller ATR 42 and Dash 8 turboprops. --- ## The Real Test Air Zimbabwe's return to London is an important moment, but getting back into the market was the easier part. What passengers and business partners will be watching is whether it can run a reliable operation for long enough to earn back the trust it lost. Government ownership will shape that as much as anything. State support can help the airline grow, while frequent interference in management has a track record of doing the opposite, and a balance between the two will decide a lot. So will the 13-month clock on the lease. By the time it runs out, Air Zimbabwe needs to have shown it's more than a nostalgic comeback, and that it can keep a long-haul route flying on its own terms.