News: BA axes Zimbabwe flights
Flights > News > # 1479 (21/09/2007)
British Airways is axing its flights from the UK to Zimbabwe at the end of October.
BA is the last major international airline to pull out of the troubled southern African country as it sinks into economic collapse.
With Zimbabwe's international isolation growing, the British airline said in a statement that its flights between Harare and London would end on October 28.
Chronic fuel shortages in Zimbabwe have forced the airline to bring in fuel by road and refuel its planes in neighboring countries.
Qantas, Air France/KLM and TAP Portugal have already withdrawn flights to Zimbabwe, leaving just state-owned Air Zimbabwe, South African Airways and two other African airlines flying to Harare.
President Robert Mugabe’s state-sponsored seizures of thousands of white-owned farms has seen the agriculture-based economy of Zimbabwe collapse. Inflation has rocketed to 7,000 percent, most shops lie empty, hospitals have no medicine and the average life expectancy has slumped to 37 for men and 34 for women.
Steve Harrison, British Airways commercial manager for southern Africa, said spiraling operating costs and falling passenger numbers left the airlines with ``considerable'' losses on the Harare route.
``The economic situation in Zimbabwe has contributed to a decline in market demand. The withdrawal of Harare flights is for commercial reasons as it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify our operation."
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