The new Victoria Falls International Airport is officially open!

Wild Zambezi & Africa Albida Tourism. Photographs by Tami Walker & African Bush Camps • 21 November 2016

Browse listings

The new Chinese-built international airport terminal at Victoria Falls was officially commissioned by President Robert Mugabe on Friday 18th November 2016, at a ceremony attended by official dignitaries and members of the tourism industry.

The airport now has the capacity to handle 1.5 million passengers per annum, tripling its previous volume, and is capable of landing some of the world’s largest aircraft.  It has also been built so that it can be expanded to accommodate rising tourist numbers if necessary.

The airport features a 4km runway, a state of the art control tower, which is one of the most advanced in Africa, and a fire station, equipped to respond to fire and medical emergencies.

Facilities at the international terminal include 14 check-in counters, 9 boarding gates, three baggage carousels, a dozen shops, two restaurants, 28 aircraft parking bays and parking facilities for 400 vehicles.

The previous aiport has been rehabilitated into a domestic terminal, featuring six check-in counters, two passenger security screening facilities, one restaurant and three coffee shops, eight other shops and a business class lounge.

Africa Albida Tourism (AAT) chief executive Ross Kennedy said: “The positive impact of the new Victoria Falls International Airport will be very significant and should take the destination and region to a new level in terms of arrivals.  

The socio-economic benefits will be widespread as increased and new access drives the tourism sector’s growth with arrivals from additional source markets”. 

Mr Kennedy also reported that interest in the new Victoria Falls International Airport at the World Travel Market, travel trade show held in London in November was high:  “I met with many tour operators, media and airlines at the show, and I can confirm that the interest is very high and that the travel industry is excited by the opening of the new Victoria Falls International Airport."

Comments (2)

This is a major infrastructural development for Victoria Falls Town. Congratulations to those behind this initiative. Although this is mainly geared toward international Tourism, both local and regional tourism will benefit. What is left is for the government through the Ministry of Tourism to have a new master-plan which will convert this small town into a Tourist Oriented City... It will be important to have national design and construction companies and local labour involved to benefit the country. ... The smart partnership between the governments of China and Zimbabwe in the airport redevelopment should be extended to other underdeveloped airports of Masvingo, Mutare, Gweru and Chiredzi/Triangle. The Ministry of Tourism is in position to spearhead the resuscitation of the construction industry through this endeavour. Can the Ministry of Tourism step up to this 21st century challenge?

Samuel Mudehwe2 December 2016
Thank you Samuel.

We were visiting Zimbabwe both Harare and Victoria Falls in April this year and found both the airports and the country very fine. The airport architects have succeeded good with the main building according to the traditional inhabitants circular huts with the conical roofs and also the figurative patterns . Congratulations to a very beautiful country, hope you soon face better political times!

Kjell Hoegseth 1 December 2016
Many thanks, Kjell. We are delighted that you enjoyed your visit to our beautiful country!

Post a comment

Enter the three characters from the image on the right. This helps prevent automated 'bots' from submitting spam to the site. This field is NOT case-sensitive. If the characters are a bit hard to see, try refreshing the code by clicking the image.

Browse listings

Enter your details below to subscribe to the Wild Zambezi newsletter.

Close

Enter your details below to subscribe to the Wild Zambezi newsletter.

* indicates required