The opening of the new airport in Victoria Falls will be delayed to the end of the year as refurbishment of the old terminal building is still underway.

Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe Public Relations Manager Anna-Julia Hungwe said work was underway to turn the old terminal into a domestic terminal and refurbishments at the building, which started in March, were now 20% complete.

“Operations have been moved from the old terminal to the new one to accommodate the refurbishments. We will not be able to meet the opening deadline that was initially set for the first half of the year as material for the current renovations is being accessed from outside Zimbabwe,” said Hungwe.

According to CAAZ, the opening of the new international airport will be determined by the current works on the old terminal.

According to the Transport Ministry, commissioning of the airport was supposed to be done in May but delays have been met by the authorities.

Giving an update on the airport expansion works, Hungwe said the new terminal, runway, sewer network and control tower were all complete and work on the fire station and access roads including the taxi way was now 90% and 95% complete respectively.

“We have engaged all tourism players to jointly market this airport which will be a game changer in the aviation sector and we are confident that at the end of the year, we would have completed all the refurbishments paving way for the official opening,” she said.

Hungwe said the authority had engaged three airlines including Qatar on servicing the Victoria Falls route and added that they were confident that these airlines will sign agreements with CAAZ once the airport becomes fully operational.