Royal Air Charters (Lusaka) will deploy its sole E145 on trunk Zambian domestic routes, Business Development Consultant Joseph Mulenga has said. The Zambian passenger charter specialist took delivery of 9J-TST, formerly N271SK (msn 145305), in Lusaka on Saturday, October 5.
Speaking to the Zambian Business Times newspaper, Mulenga said the nearly 20-year-old Embraer jet would be used to serve Zambia’s major towns and cities including Lusaka, Solwezi, and Ndola International. He did not disclose any service entry dates.
At present, RAC operates two E120s as well as Cessna (single turboprop) C208B Grand Caravans and Beech (twin turboprop) King Air 350s on passenger charter flights throughout Zambia.
In terms of like-gauge competition from other local carriers, the ch-aviation fleets module shows Proflight Zambia (P0, Lusaka) operates one CRJ100 on routes connecting Lusaka with Livingstone, Mfuwe, and Ndola International locally and Durban King Shaka in South Africa. For its part, Mahogany Air (HOG, Lusaka) has announced plans to induct either a CRJ or an ERJ for use in developing a regional African network although no firm dates have yet been announced.
Meanwhile, the Zambian government's proposed new carrier Zambia Airways (ZN, Lusaka) is gathering steam with its first batch of cabin and flight crew having been sent to Addis Ababa International to train with minority shareholder and technical partner Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International). No revised launch date for the nascent carrier has yet been given although a 2020 debut is now likely.
