At 17.56 East African time on Saturday, an Air Zimbabwe Airbus 320 with 125 passengers touched down at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in Dar es Salaam in a maiden flight to re-launch Harare-Dar-Harare route.

“It was a smooth touchdown,” said Captain Otis Shinai (41), who congratulated the ground staff for making his coming back journey after several years, a memorable one.

In an interview with Daily News, Captain Shonai said for him and his first officer, Tunzanai Moyo, two hours and two minutes flight from Harare, Zimbabwe, was quite amazing, as the sky was clear and radar support were quite good compared with 2008 he used to fly in and out.

“There is remarkable improvement in navigation aids particularly the radar,” said Shonai whose plane took 2 minutes to pass through water salute in a traditional welcoming endeavours, before the engine was switched off at 18.06 to allow passengers to disembark.

Witnessing this historic event to welcome back Zimbabwe National Airline to the Tanzania skies was Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications, Prof Faustin Kamuzora, on behalf of the minister- in-charge of Works, Transport and communication, Prof Makame Mbarawa.

The last flight was in May 2009.