page_title: Air Zimbabwe
section_title: History and recent developments
hierarchical_section_title: Air Zimbabwe / Fleet / History and recent developments
caption_attribution_description: English: Air Zimbabwe MA60 aircraft
context_page_description: Air Zimbabwe Ltd is the national carrier of Zimbabwe, headquartered on the property of Harare International Airport, in Harare. From its hub at Harare International Airport, the carrier used to operate a network within southern Africa that also included Asia and London-Gatwick. Following financial difficulties, Air Zimbabwe ceased operations in late February 2012. Serving a reduced domestic network, the carrier resumed operations for a short period between May and early July 2012, when flights were again discontinued. Some flights were restarted on a discontinuous basis in November that year. The airline resumed operating some domestic routes as well as the regional service to Johannesburg on a daily basis in April 2013.
  The company has been a member of the International Air Transport Association, and of the African Airlines Association since 1981. As of July 2014, it is owned by the Government of Zimbabwe.
context_section_description: Two Viscount 800s were purchased from Dan-Air in the early 1980s, to replace the Viscount 700s inherited from Air Rhodesia that were near the end of their life; these aircraft flew for the company until their retirement in 1989.
  The initial fleet of five Boeing 707s sourced from Lufthansa replaced the Boeing 720 aircraft used by Air Rhodesia. These 707s joined the Vickers Viscount fleet, that was strengthened by the addition of two Viscounts 810s from Dan Air. The airline saw the incorporation of the Boeing 737-200 into the fleet in 1985.
  Long-haul operations that were once operated with the 707s were gradually shifted to the newly acquired Boeing 767-200ER aircraft; the first of them entered the fleet in late 1989. A British Aerospace BAe 146 was added to the fleet from the Zimbabwean Air force in the 1980s. Leased Fokker 50s were used from 1995 but proved unsuitable to the hot and high conditions and were returned to the lessor.
  In late 2010 the airline announced it had ordered two Airbus A340-500s to serve the Harare–Beijing and Harare–London routes; the order was later cancelled after the company failed to raise the money.
  In late June 2011, Air Zimbabwe was forced to return the Boeing 737-500 it was hiring from Zambezi Airlines to partially compensate the lack of equipment following the grounding of its Boeing 737-200 fleet, as it was unable to afford the costs of its leasing. The aircraft was mainly used to operate the Harare–Johannesburg route; it was disclosed the company had to fly the route using one of their Boeing 767s.
  Despite versions for the acquisition of new aircraft were officially declined in July 2011 owing to a precarious cash position, it was disclosed that the airline bought an Airbus A340-500 and an Airbus A320, both new, in August 2011. As of January 2012, there had been discrepant versions over the acquisition of new Airbus aircraft, since the secretary of the Zimbabwean Ministry of Transport has denied the transaction, but there exist records for the delivery of an A320 to the company. The introduction of A320 services was informed in May 2013, when it replaced the Boeing 767s on the Harare–Johannesburg route.
caption: Air Zimbabwe MA60 aircraft in 2009
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot SX10 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2009:08:11 10:48:05", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "240", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5108", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2383", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:08:11 10:48:05", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:08:11 10:48:05", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "319/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "139/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "15029/1000", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3648", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2736", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3648", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2736", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3244", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3648000/241", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2736000/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}