BRITISH Airways has announced that it is suspending its direct flights between London Heathrow and Harare from October 28. Passengers will from then on be re-routed via Johannesburg where they will fly BA Comair from Johannesburg to Harare.
A spokesperson at the airline's press office in the UK said the route had been running at a loss for some time and that the operational costs of the route were spiralling. One of the reasons given for this was that fuel has to be trucked into Zimbabwe, which increased fuel costs substantially.
The spokesperson said that due to the limited number of slots available at Heathrow and the number of long-haul aircraft, the company had to use its equipment in the most beneficial way possible. It is increasing its frequencies on a number of its flights to the US, including New York JFK, Seattle and Washington as well as on its Gatwick-Orlando service.
He said that although the passenger numbers on the popular Heathrow-Johannesburg route would increase, the market would cope with the amount of passengers.
BA operates thrice weekly flights to Harare on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, while Comair operates daily flights between Johannesburg and Harare.
