- Got really lucky, here.
- Hey, what's happening?
- Hey, aloha.
(energetic, contemplative music)
Huge bok choy, here.
(energetic, contemplative music)
(aeroplane engines whirring)
I'm at the Air Zimbabwe transfer desk.
We arrived so late on the flight,
but Renier here, he took over.
He looked after me.
He tried to check me in, so now I made it on my next flight
to Air Zimbabwe to Harare.
Thank you so much, Renier.
- No prob, thank you.
- Well, I'm on this remote bus going to board
on the Air Zimbabwe flight together
with a full load of bus crowd today.
After flying Qantas to South Africa,
I jump on that opportunity to fly
on the Air Zimbabwe to Harare.
This Boeing 767-200, named after Victoria Falls
is 29 years old, delivered from Boeing new in 1989.
You know, I came all this way from Australia,
from Sydney, just to fly Air Zimbabwe now.
What do you say?
- Congratulations!
- Yay!
Very happy, thank you.
- Cheers!
- Cheers.
I love adventures,
and I've been so excited about flying Air Zimbabwe.
Air Zimbabwe's 767-200 is in a two-class configuration,
which 30 business class seats and 167 economy seats.
(energetic, contemplative music)
I just settled down on the flight,
waiting for other people to board right now.
So at this point, ground security came on board
and had some words with me.
The flight attendant, obviously not used
to an African filming around and had raised concern.
I was told to stop or leave the aeroplane,
so I became careful and discrete.
I moved to an empty middle row and settled down.
We departed on time with a quick climb out.
No seat-back entertainment, no music, no lights.
Everything is broken.
The seat cover was probably from 29 years ago.
After takeoff, a full round of drinks and dinner was served,
which was really good for the one-and-a-half-hour flight.
I had further chats with the crew
and explained why I was filming.
I'm glad that now we made friends.
I've met these very friendly Air Zimbabwe
flight attendants and--
- Yeah.
- Nambia?
- Yeah, Yasinta.
- From Marange. - And you are Shona.
- From Shona. - Shona.
- And you are?
- I'm Ndebele from Matabeleland.
- Wow.
This is the first time I'm actually meeting you all.
It's the first time going to Harare, so it's all new to me.
I need to go home and study a little bit more about this.
- Yeah. You'll enjoy it.
- What are your names?
Tell me your names.
- My name is Yasinta.
- Ya-sin-ta.
- Yes.
- Yasinta, and?
- I'm Arnold.
- I'm Sica. - Arnold.
- Yes, Arnold.
- And?
- I'm Sica.
- See-kuh. - Yeah.
- Very cool.
How long have you guys worked for Air Zimbabwe?
- 10 years.
- Cool!
- 14 years.
- 14?
- 14.
- You look like Kobe Bryant.
You look like a basketballer, you know?
(all laughing)
- And how long?
- 27.
- 27. - How old you are?
Oh 27 years! - Yes! (laughs)
- For landing, I moved to a spare window seat.
(engine sputtering and whirring)
- Welcome to Harare.
My name is Buyan.
- Buyan?
That's awesome.
You like Air Zimbabwe.
You told me you enjoy Air Zimbabwe more
than the other airline.
- Air Zimbabwe is actually the best.
They're affordable, and the food is very nice,
and the staff is pleasant.
So fly Air Zim.
Promote Air Zimbabwe.
Don't fly any other.
- Oh, fly Air Zimbabwe, very good.
Because you like the 767, yeah?
- The 767 is a very great plane.
- Same here, I like 767.
I like the food too.
- And the food?
- Oh yeah.
I was very grateful of the flight.
It is the pure enjoyment of aviation for me.
Air Zimbabwe is an experience of its own.
Bye!
- Bye!
- The next morning, I went back to the airport at 5:00 a.m.
to buy tickets to fly on the Air Zim 737-200 to Bulawayo.
It departs at 7:00 a.m.
This is Miss Lucky here.
She was helping me to buy the ticket
so I can now finally fly the 737.
It's been a dream for many years.
Can you not believe how happy I am right now?
This is five o'clock at Harare at the ticket office here.
I like this bit, here.
We are totally engaged, actually moving with speed.
Air Zimbabwe 737-200 is also one
of the last remaining 737-200 in the world,
so this is gonna be really exciting.
There's a separate terminal for domestic flights.
Check-in was simple,
but due to my short 30-minute turnaround
in Bulawayo back on the same plane,
the staff was able to call the station manager there
to inform him about my situation.
I was sorted.
There's a domestic lounge,
and I was let in to have a quick look.
It was really basic.
Boarding was on-time at 6:45 a.m. for a 7:00 a.m. departure.
(aeroplane engines roaring)
After entering the plane, I was pleasantly surprised.
There are business class seats.
I settled in row five, the second row in the economy class.
Air Zim 737 can seat 105 passengers in two class layouts.
(energetic, contemplative music)
So it's 6:45, on-time boarding.
This is what a 737 inside looks like.
- [Pilot Over P.A.] Above your head.
This mask on your face...
(engine revving)
(engine roaring)
- Flight time to Bulawayo is just 30 minutes.
There was a sandwich and drink service free of charge,
better than many airlines out there.
(energetic, contemplative music)
I just met George.
You were born in Bulawayo.
- Born in Bulawayo.
- Oh, so you lived in Zimbabwe most of your life?
- Most of my life.
- And now, there's a campaign;
fly four times, get one free trip.
- Yes.
- So how many free trips do you have now?
- I've got two.
- They owe you two trips, so far.
- Owe me two, yes.
- Okay, Air Zimbabwe, if you're watching this video,
George earned two free trips from you guys.
- And I'll have another two by the end of the month.
- Oh, awesome.
You flew this plane a hundred times, right?
- Probably, yes.
- Yeah.
- I fly twice a week.
- You know people like me, I'm really, really excited
to fly just once, and you allegedly flew a hundred times.
The Monday morning flight was barely 50% full.
I moved to the back for landing.
(engine roaring)
- Hey!
- How's it?
- How are you?
- Fine, thanks.
(energetic, contemplative music)
- When I arrived in Bulawayo, I quickly went
to the check-in counter and back
to the boarding gates, all within several minutes.
(engine whirring)
(energetic, contemplative music)
This time, I was sitting 16-A.
The flight wasn't full again.
(engine roaring)
The same sandwich was served,
but no complaint getting free food
on the half-an-hour flight.
After 20 minutes cruising, we started our descent.
(engine roaring)
(energetic, contemplative music)
- [Pilot Over P.A.] Welcome to Harare
International Airport...
- Well, so I just landed back at the airport.
In fact, we arrived like 20 minutes early,
so everyone says Air Zimbabwe's no tourist,
delay and everything, but I had a good experience.
Maybe I was just very lucky,
but the flights are very, very on-time and very enjoyable.
It brought back lots of beautiful memories
flying the 737 classic.
I went back to the hotel after two
wonderful Air Zimbabwe flights that morning.
I arrived late the night before,
so that morning was my first time seeing Harare.
It certainly has a lot of colonial legacy around,
but it seems a bit run-down, as well.
I stayed at the Meikles Hotel,
which is a five-star hotel in Harare.
My room overlooked the a beautiful park
and all the blooming jacaranda trees.
(energetic, contemplative music)
The well-maintained room and luxury in the hotel
may be quite a stark contrast to what's outside
of the hotel.
There were lots of unemployed people on the streets.
The infrastructure was lacking.
There was cholera outbreak.
The country's constantly low on fuel and food supply.
The roads were so terrible and grossly under-maintained
since a long time ago.
There were potholes everywhere.
Driving was also horrible during the peak hours,
with almost no traffic routes.
What a pity that Zimbabwe's on such long-term decline.
The country was once the proud breadbasket of Africa.
- It's 75, so...
- So now, I'm holding the new money of Zimbabwe.
It's called a bond note.
The Central Bank of Zimbabwe guaranteed one U.S. dollar
to one bond note, so if this is two U.S. dollars,
the official exchange rate is two bond notes.
But this is not the case in unofficial exchange rates,
so today I've just changed money.
I've changed, let's say, 100 U.S dollars.
100 U.S. dollars actually got 180 bond notes,
so I can take that 180 bond notes to buy an air ticket
worth $180, but essentially, I only paid 100 U.S.
So do the math, this is an unbeatable value.
Come to Zimbabwe to fly, and you'll pay much less.
Hi, how are you?
Oh yeah, I like that, cool!
- Hi!
- I love your hair, by the way.
So cool.
- Thank you.
- You know, Asians can not never make this.
- Ohamba is (speaking foreign language)
- (speaking foreign language)
- Did you say something bad about me?
- We are on video, right?
- Yeah, of course.
- Okay, say hello too much.
We are the best country and the best airlines in the world.
- Let's see after the flight.
We're lucky that there's no seat neighbour.
So this is that "you feel good" beer.
(energetic, contemplative music)