Zambian Airways
Zambian Airways | |
---|---|
IATA code : | Q3 |
ICAO code : | MBN |
Call sign : | MINES |
Founding: | 1946 |
Operation stopped: | 2009 |
Seat: | Lusaka , Zambia |
Home airport : | Lusaka |
IATA prefix code : | 391 |
Management: | Mutembo Nchito, Steve Simwanza |
Sales: | EUR 3.6 million (2001) |
Passenger volume: | 16,000 (2001) |
Fleet size: | 4th |
Aims: | regional |
Zambian Airways ceased operations in 2009. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation. |
Zambian Airways was a private Zambian airline based in Lusaka . The hub was located at Lusaka International Airport .
history
In April 1998 the airline Mines Air Services , which had been in existence since 1948 , was privatized from the property of the state mining company Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines and taken over by Roan Air Holding. The airline was first renamed Roan Air before being renamed Zambian Airways in September 1999.
Roan Air flew a Canadair Challenger and a Beech 1900D in early 1999 . Later she flew with two newly acquired Beech 1900Ds. In 2000, Zambia Airways became the national airline of Zambia. In the same year Roan Air Holding entered into a joint venture with the South African Comair . Comair took over 25% of the shares in Zambia Airways and Roan Air Holding kept 75%.
One of the main reasons for this joint venture was a franchise agreement with British Airways ( Comair was already a franchisee in South Africa). In 2001 the franchise operation began under British Airways flight numbers BA6450-6499 with the name Zambia Airways operated by Zambian Air Series (ZAS) on the routes Lusaka (LUN) and Ndolé (NLA) to Johannesburg (JNB). The flight was in a Boeing 737-200 rented by the South African Safair . Zambia Airways also joined the oneworld airline alliance as a one affiliate member .
The utilization of the flights did not develop favorably and so the route Ndolé - Johannesburg had to be closed again in 2002 . A little later, Lusaka - Johannesburg followed and the franchise agreement was terminated.
Zambia Airways continued to operate a domestic flight network and the international connection to Harare (HRE) with Beech 1900D .
The attempt by Zambia Airways to enter the intercontinental business was also interesting. Here she entered into a cooperation with Air Namibia (SW). This flew for a short time with Air Namibia and Zambia Airways flight numbers with their Boeing 747SP from Windhoek (WDH) via Lusaka (LUN) to London Heathrow (LHR).
In October 2006, Zambian Airways acquired two Boeing 737-200s from the South African company Safair and held an option to acquire a third aircraft of this type for spring 2007.
Zambian Airways ceased operations on January 10, 2009 because fuel costs had increased enormously. Numerous passengers with the destination South Africa got into difficulties because of the short notice from the airline. Originally there were two flights a day to South Africa and a few weekly to other destinations in southern Africa.
Destinations
- National destinations: Chipata , Livingstone (LVI), Lusaka (LUN), Mwinilunga , Ndola (NLA), Kitwe (KIW), Mfuwe (MFU).
- International destinations: Harare (HRE), Johannesburg (JNB), Dar-es-Salaam ,
- together with Air Malawi : Dubai ,
- together with Air Namibia : London-Heathrow (LHR) and Windhoek (WDH).
fleet
As of August 2007, the Zambian Airways fleet consisted of four aircraft:
See also
literature
Jetstream Magazine, British Airways ´oneworld´ information booklet, OAG Official Airlines Guide
Web links
- Photos of Zambian Airways on airliners.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ ACSA: Zambian Airways suspends operation, passengers stranded . ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on www.atn.aero (English)
- ↑ Reuters, LusakaTimes.com: Zambian Airways Suspends Operations . on www.lusakatimes.com (English)
- ↑ ch-aviation.ch: Zambian Airways fleet ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) August 3, 2007