The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe - Where natural beauty and travel meet

Since the completion of its upgrade in November 2016, the Victoria Falls International Airport has sported numerous improvements that allow it to provide quality airport services to passengers, stakeholders and partners alike. These upgrades include:

• a 4,000m-long by 60m-wide runway and associated taxiways, and Category II airfield ground lighting and instrument landing systems
• an apron area with a capacity to handle Category II aircraft in the class of the B747 or equivalent
• a state-of-the-art international passenger terminal building and a refurbished domestic passenger terminal building with a combined capacity to handle 1.5 million passengers per annum
• a new air traffic control tower with modern air traffic management equipment
• a new fire station equipped with a training tower offering Category 7 fire cover
• docking for three aircraft on aerobridges at any given time
• pallet cargo facilities
• parking for five wide-body aircraft, eight Category C aircraft and 26 light aircraft at any given time.

Victoria Falls International Airport is located within the heart of central and southern Africa, providing access to six countries within two hours: Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana, making it a natural regional tourism gateway by location.

The airport is currently serviced by scheduled flights run by Fastjet Zimbabwe, Air Zimbabwe, South African Airways, South African Air link, Ethiopian airlines, Kenya Airways, British Airways Comair, Air Namibia and charter flights from various parts of the world. More new services are expected to come from African, Middle-Eastern and European carriers going forward.

The destination

There are few sights more inspiring than the mesmerising display of white water, spray and rainbows created by the Zambezi River as it plunges more than 100m over the Batoka Gorge to form Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls International Airport provides access to Victoria Falls town, which lies 1.5km from Victoria Falls; one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage site known locally as Mosi-oa- Tunya, 'the smoke that thunders'.

The majestic Victoria Falls lies about midway down the course of the mighty Zambezi River where the surge of the Zambezi is best exemplified by the unfolding of this spectacular waterfall and gorge, which are 1,708m wide and 108m deep, being the largest water falls in the world.

Victoria Falls is a core part of the world's largest Transfrontier Conservation Area - the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) - which spans Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and Angola. It sits at the hub of a vast and wildlife-rich tourism belt spanning the five countries. The KAZA region is home to nearly 60% of Africa's remaining elephant population, as well as 35 national parks and protected areas, including the Okavango Delta, another UNESCO World Heritage site. The largely underexposed region boasts some of the most pristine and diverse wildlife areas left on the planet.

Victoria Falls offers conferencing and leisure facilities, with over 50 scintillating activities, earning itself the title of 'Africa's Adventure Capital'. Victoria Falls offers a wide range of entertaining and breathtaking tourist activities, such as a tour of Victoria Falls, steam train Safaris, bungee jumping, rafting/kayaking, game drives and helicopter rides over the falls.

The Zambezi River is the fourth longest river in Africa, after the Nile, Congo and Niger Rivers, and is rated as a Grade 5 river, the highest grade that a river can receive for white water rafting. The Zambezi River evokes mystery and excitement with few rivers in the world remaining so unexplored.