Proflight Zambia has unveiled an unprecedented reduction on its flight fares in a move designed to provide more affordable air travel ahead of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly (UNWTO).
The UNWTO will be co-hosted by Zambia and Zimbabwe in August this year.
Proflight Director of Government and Industry Affairs Captain Philip Lemba said the new package of fares is also aimed at encouraging passengers to plan ahead and book their flights earlier.
Capt. Lemba stated in a statement made available to ZANIS that the development has been made possible by Proflight’s impending move to introduce a 108-seater Boeing 737 aircraft that he said will reduce the airline’s operating costs on its trunk routes to Ndola and Livingstone.
He said passengers who book more than 14 days in advance can now fly from Lusaka to Ndola or Livingstone for just KR250, with similar savings across the board on Proflight’s other routes that include Chipata, Mansa, Kasama, Lower Zambezi and Solwezi.
He further stated that one-way fares from Lusaka to Chipata will be KR700, to Kasama KR1, 025, while Lusaka to Mansa has being pegged at KR855 to.
Fares from Kasama to Ndola will be KR650, KR555 from Ndola to Mansa, KR1, 025 from Ndola to Kasama via Lusaka, KR855 from Mansa to Ndola via Lusaka, KR630 from Ndola to Livingstone via Lusaka, KR670 from Ndola to Lower Zambezi via Lusaka, and KR720 from Solwezi to Livingstone via Lusaka.
He stated that fares include all charges except for the National Airport Corporation Limited (NACL) taxes which range from between K58 and K65 per flight.
Capt. Lemba said that with the reduced fares, Proflight can now offer travelers a journey that competes favourably with road travel on both time and price with flight times of close to an hour on most routes.
“We have listened to the concerns of passengers and regulators about the cost of airfares, and now, thanks to the introduction of the 737 aircraft, we are able to respond to those concerns and reduce costs,” explained Capt. Lemba.
Capt. Lemba has since urged people to support their local airline and ensure the carrier becomes a standard-bearer that the nation can be proud of.
Proflight Zambia’s decision to reduce fares comes in the wake of its plan to introduce a 108-seat Boeing 737 to its fleet, dramatically reducing the per-seat operating costs of its flights.
Capt. Lemba believes that with the airlines new aircraft it will be able to comfortably service the demands of the UNWTO event without the need for the country to bring in additional oversees carriers.
He cautioned that the Zambian domestic market is still very small, at around 110,000 passengers per year, compared with other countries such as Kenyan which has a domestic market of around 3 million passengers.
Capt. Lemba stated that Proflight’s current fleet of 29-seat and 18-seat turbo prop aircraft will still need to service most destinations adding that fares on these flights will not be reduced.
ZANIS
Good point on the comparison of domestic markets between Kenya and Zambia. But you forgot to compare the charges between the two Countries. This would enable us have a more accurate judgement. It could be that what is keeping away customers from the local airline is the high charges.
Good news at last and I was ready to make bookings for flights to Ndola and Livingstone. I called the airport proflight office only to be told, “we do not know yet when the bigger aircraft will come”! Capt. Lemba; please give an indication of when this good news will come to pass.
Please Proflight, work on your online booking system. I was home 2 months ago, it was a nightmare attempting to plan my trip with you across the nation via Internet. And please have a 24/7 call center or something close. You have no idea how much READY we are to SUPPORT YOU.
In this day & age, one must be able to log on to your site & book via credit card. Others may have success doing that but I struggled. Never did with local flight carriers in other nations. We believe in YOU
K250 to Ndola, it will be cheaper than driving. Good deal. I can assure you are going to have business. And next consider going international on J’burg & Nairobi to cut competition.
keep the fairs even after UNWTO and you’ll have more business.
really good news indeed.
“Capt. Lemba stated that Proflight’s current fleet of 29-seat and 18-seat turbo prop aircraft will still need to service most destinations adding that fares on these flights will not be reduced.” l am just wondering what this means in real terms if the calculation is based on seat rate. What is the actual age of the 737 again or what series is it? This could be the make or break point of Proflight. Wish you all the best!
I agree. It is crucial that they avoid the older 737-200s that are now being phased out of operation worldwide. They are very uneconomical from a maintainance and fuel consumption point of view. Not forgetting, Zambian airlines are on the EU list of banned carriers that means the lucrative non-African passengers are deterred from flying Proflight or any other Zambian airline. Proflight must look at using more modern and fuel efficient planes and in order to finance these it must consider establishing partnerships with the other more established airlines in order to benefit from economies of scale. Buying an old 737 will do nothing to increase its fortunes.
tuleisa mukunina nafutinafuti. are the traffic people still there in kapiri-kabwe route?they arrested us last time and so many bump in air.you need to change your flight shock to make us comfatable this time around.good news keep it up.
I wonder what business model they have and I hope they have investors with deep pockets as running an airline in Africa is hideously expensive!!
Professor JJ stick to your area of competence.
Good move but if you want more business reduce further..the high turn out wil yield more!
That is not a B737 in your picture
It is very interesting to hear that fares will be significantly reduced on popular routes, e.g. Lusaka to Livingstone and to MfuWe. Can someone please advise when this might occur? Not by mid April I suppose? Agree with other comments that any bigger planes need to be safe and properly equipped. Thanks.
The airline market is extremely delicate and I hope Proflight can make this move stick. The government needs to help limit international gateways so that domestic carriers such as Proflight have a firm foundation to build on. The Zambian market just isn’t mature enough to support high levels of competition and cut throat prices.
Whether an older model 732 will help or hinder expansion remains to be seen but low acquisition costs are obviously being prioritized over efficient paying costs which could be interpreted as an airline over reaching. If ever they needed government’s support, it’s now.
i wonder why air fare is expensive in Zambia, go to other countries ,a $100 is airfare for a very long distance,even poor pipo manage using planes ,let PROFLIGHT leave their fares down and they will make much bussiness