Zimbabwe proposes regional airline

Zimbabwe is expected to table a proposal for southern African countries to establish a regional airline, part of measures envisaged to solve the connectivity problems faced by millions of tourists travelling across the region.

The Southern African Development Community, a resource rich destination endowed with world wonders, including the Victoria Falls shared by Zambia and Zimbabwe, is significantly dependent on income from the travel industry where arrivals have been booming despite hitches in the airline industry.

It was not clear how the proposed airline would be owned, and whether it would withstand the storms that have forced privately-held 1 Time, Air Tanzania, Zambezi Airlines, Fly Kumba and others to collapse.

But the proposal is to be tabled by Zimbabwe's outgoing Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Walter Mzembi, at the United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assembly which kicks off in the Victoria Falls and Zambia's Livingstone this week.