We hope 2025 is off to a great start for everyone and that the year ahead is filled with success and growth.
Looking back on 2024, we faced our own challenges along the way, but we’re pleased to share that we carried a total of 276,669 passengers, flew over 10,000 flights and put over 350,000 seats in the air. 2024 saw Proflight Zambia’s total number of employees increase to 280 people, and we are proud that 96% of our employees are Zambian and 38% are female.
We are viewing 2025 as a year of consolidation following rapid growth post-covid and therefore, have no immediate plans for additional routes, aircraft or infrastructure. We will look to strengthen our existing route network in 2025 with increased frequency, capacity and connectivity while evaluating potential new routes, both domestic and international for 2026.
In this edition of Partner News, we’ll be sharing updates on some of the changes we’re implementing this year, many of which have already been implemented.
We are grateful for your continued support and look forward continuing to welcome your customers on board Proflight Zambia!
Schedule – Regional
Joburg
In Quarter 3 of 2024, we consolidated flights during the low-demand period from mid-January to mid-February 2025. This has proven beneficial for us the past three years on Joburg to counter very low-demand passenger period at start of each year. Starting on 24 February 2025, we have resumed a twice-daily flight schedule. For the latest and most accurate schedule, please check availability on the Proflight Zambia website, Videcom (VRS) or through the GDS systems.
Cape Town Direct
We continue to offer direct flights between Cape Town and Livingstone on Thursdays and Sundays. Our Cape Town to Lusaka flights now connects via Livingstone, with a brief 30-minute stopover, which is often reduced to just 20 minutes. Passengers stay onboard during this time and are provided with a selection of drinks, a cold meal, and a cup of Zambian coffee. We invite you to relax, work, read, converse, even sleep knowing that you have avoided the congestion and stress of Joburg transit. Arrival at Cape Town International Airport is before noon and usually a hassle-free, quick and efficient immigration process.
We understand that the early departure from Lusaka may not be ideal for everyone, however, it provides the benefit of a shorter travel time of just 4.5 hours, compared to over 6 hours via Johannesburg, giving passengers the opportunity to arrive early and enjoy the afternoon in Cape Town. Airport check in at Lusaka for this flight closes at 06:00.
Schedule – Domestic
We will continue to operate our domestic schedules and add capacity in response to demand. As we near the peak season, we will gradually increase capacity. However, for groups of 10 or more traveling on sold-out flights, please contact our reservations team. We will review the loads and our aircraft and crew availability and increase capacity accordingly.
For the latest and most accurate schedule, please check availability on the Proflight Zambia website, VRS or through the GDS systems.
2025 Product Changes
After our 2024 review and 2025 strategy meetings, we have implemented the following changes to our product.
Booking Service Fee – This is a charge applied per person for all bookings made at any Proflight Zambia office. This fee has remained unchanged for over four years and has now been adjusted upwards from K250 to K350 per person.
Please note, this fee only applies to direct bookings made at a Proflight Zambia office or through Proflight Zambia Reservations by phone call, WhatsApp or email. It will not be applied to bookings made on the Proflight Zambia website. To avoid the charge, you can book on the website and make the payment online or at a Proflight Zambia office.
GDS-Change Service Fee – This is a charge on all GDS bookings where passengers approach the airline directly for a voluntary change. This fee was introduced in 2022 to discourage passengers from changing GDS bookings with the airline but rather direct all changes to their travel agent as once Proflight Zambia modifies the booking, the travel agent loses access to the PNR. This fee has now been adjusted upwards from K600 to K1000 per person.
Please note the fee is waived for ticket changes due to airline schedule changes or cancelled flights.
B-Class No Show Fee – Our Flexible Fare Family (B-Class) is the only fare class that is fully refundable and the only fare class that is re-usable post flight departure. For many years, the post departure change fee has been $25. The change fee has now been adjusted to $50 per sector.
Firecracker Change Fee – This fee is now adjusted from $25 to $30. The fee is charged once on each directional journey when making ticketed flight changes such as a new flight time or new flight date.
Reroute Fee – This fee is now adjusted from $25 to $30. The fee is charged once on each directional journey when changing your origin or destination. For example, you have a ticket for Lusaka-Joburg which you cancelled before travel and now want to use it on Lusaka-Ndola.
All reroutes can only be done through the Proflight Zambia Reservations team and will be charged as 1) Reroute Fee 2) Change Fee if applicable/on Firecracker Fares and 3) upward Fare Difference if any.
YQ GDS Distribution Surcharge – This fee was introduced in 2019 to help us cover the yearly % increase on GDS charges. Currently the fee is $10 in all GDS systems and charged once on each directional journey. Effective 1 March 2025, the fee will proportionately increase according to GDS charges to $15 on all GDS systems outside of Zambia. It will remain at $10 in all GDSs in Zambia.
YR Fuel Surcharge – Due to frequent fuel shortages in Mfuwe in 2024, we had to significantly limit capacity on most flights to carry return fuel out of Lusaka. The fuel situation for this year remains the same, thus with immediate effect, we have increased the YR on the Mfuwe route by $2 to help mitigate the negative impact of no fuel.
Kasama is our furthest domestic route, and no aviation fuel is available in Northern, Luapula nor Muchinga provinces, thus we have increased the YR on Kasama by $2. The YR for all other routes will remain unchanged for now.
Mfuwe and Livingstone Classic Fare – Our Y-class fare for Mfuwe and Livingstone will increase by $20, effective for flights on or after 01 May 2025. In addition, the direct Mfuwe/ Jeki or Royal fare will increase by $10. Proportional increases also apply on our indirect/via-Lusaka discounted through-fares between Mfuwe and Livingstone, Jeki, Royal and between Livingstone and Mfuwe, Jeki, Royal. We understand that some bookings have already been ticketed and will auto-calculate a fare difference if changed. For these bookings, we will load a special fare basis available exclusively to our Reservations team, who will be able to re-quote your new fare and waive the fare difference according to our Y-class fare rules.
Should you need to change any Y-class tickets booked before 1 March 2025 for travel on/after 1 May 2025, please go ahead with the change in VRS if you are a direct user. Then get in touch with our Reservations team who will gladly requote the fare without upward fare difference. Our Reservations team will also give approval for GDS agents to manually quote the booking without collecting the fare difference. Please note there is no fare increase on G-class which is valid for groups travelling together of 10+ adults.
Reverse Advance Purchase on S-class – Following discussions at our annual Mfuwe function in December 2024, we have decided to adjust our S-class Advance Purchase period. For Mfuwe flights, the Advance Purchase will be reduced from “available within 90 days of flight” to “available within 45 days of flight”, and for Livingstone flights, it will change from 90 days to 60 days. This adjustment is being made to align with the Firecracker Fare Family for all firecracker fares on both routes.
Name Changes / Mis-spellings
Complete name changes are not permitted on Proflight Zambia. However, we do accept corrections for name mis-pellings on our domestic flights for both VRS ticketing partners and GDS bookings. For VRS ticketing partners, please add the correct spelling as a CKIN (example “4-1fCKIN surname spelled Tembo not Timbo”). For GDS agents, please contact our Reservations team, who will review the error. If approved, they will add the necessary to your PNR so that the airport team can accept the passenger.
For regional flights, the ticket must be voided, and a new ticket issued with the correct spelling. Unfortunately, our VRS system does not recognize name changes made in the GDS system, so for name mis-spellings, please seek approval from our Reservations team to issue a new ticket. The ticket with the mis-spelling can then be submitted for a refund. We will approve a full refund on the old ticket with the mis-spelling, but an admin fee of $30 will apply. Please note that the YQ distribution surcharge is non-refundable on such approvals.
Same-day void on reissues
Currently our VRS system does not support this type of same-day void through GDS. This is scenario whereby agent has already ticketed on previous date. The agent then rebooks/reissues but wants to reverse same-day back to original ticket without penalty. Such requests for same-day reversal need to be assisted on that date by the Proflight Zambia Reservations team.
Lusaka and Copperbelt Functions
We are thrilled to have hosted our Lusaka and Copperbelt agents for an appreciation breakfast meeting on the 18th of February in Lusaka and the 19th of February in Ndola. It was a pleasure meeting and engaging with the various travel agents to update on our product, share our plans for 2025, and exchange ideas for the improvement of our airline. We are grateful to everyone who attended and participated in the discussions. We are grateful for your support and for selling our product.
Congratulations to the lucky winners of the business card and best suggestion draws! We look forward to welcoming you onboard!
Partner Ticketing Agreements – 2025
The VRS Partner Ticketing Agreements have now been sent out. We sincerely apologize for the delay, as we needed some Zambia Revenue Authority clarifications before issuing them. If you have not yet returned a signed copy of the contract, please do so as soon as possible to avoid losing your ticketing authority in the VRS system. If you have not received your Agreement, please get in touch with Zola on email zola.khondowe@proflight-zambia.com.
Reminders
Seat Selection – Please make use of this feature in Galileo by pre-selecting seats for your passengers currently at no charge.
Purchase EMD products in Galileo – You can purchase Prepaid Excess Bundles, Wheelchair Complete, and Weapons. If you experience any issues, please report them to the Travelport Support team.
Baggage Allowance – Enjoy 23kilos on all domestic flights and 30kilos on regional flights regardless of fare class booked. To add on to your allowance, you can also pre-purchase 15kg bundles up to 4 hours before departure via Galileo, the Proflight Zambia Website or VRS. You can share your allowance with family or friends booked with the same reservation reference or with family under a different reservation reference provided the family surname matches. For other airline flights included on your ticket, shared allowance is only allowed if booked with the same reservation reference
Industry Rate – This offer is available on our South African routes. It can be used by all the full-time staff of our Ticketing Partners and GDS agents. For GDS users, please contact our Reservations team to make bookings. Ticketing Partners using VRS should book the standard Y-class and reach out to our Reservations team for a re-fare quote.
Ticket re-issues in the GDS – Our fare rules allow cancellations before the flight date without the need for immediate rebooking or reissuing. However, once you’re ready to rebook, the reissue must be done at the same time. Please note that no Ticketing Time Limit is offered for such rebookings before the reissue.
Reservations and Ticket Sales – Our ticket sales office at Proflight Zambia Head Office and Proflight Zambia Reservations is open for ticket sales and assistance daily from 06:00 to 19:00, 7 days a week, 364 days a year (only closed on Christmas!). Our ticket Sales office in Joburg (Terminal B) is also now open.
Customer Service Comments
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation for the excellent and outstanding service we received at check in and on board our recent flight, dated, Thursday, the 30th January 2025 at 12 pm from Cape Town, South Africa ZA to Lusaka, Zambia ZM. The Proflight Zambia Check in was smooth and efficient making our journey hassle-free. The staff were very friendly and helpful during check-in.
A special commendation goes to the friendly Air Hostess on board, named Malawo, who’s professionalism, attentiveness and warm hospitality truly enhanced our experience.
Her dedication in ensuring passenger comfort was exceptional and greatly appreciated. She was pleasant and cheerful and attended to our needs. Our vegetarian meals we requested from reservations@proflight-zambia.com a few days before our flight were correct and delicious. We thank the team for serving our requested meals and the effort in labeling them with our names.
The two Pilots flew the aircraft steady, and their assertiveness gave a relaxing vibe on the aircraft. The ascending and landing were perfectly smooth. We requested a photo with them so we may email Proflight Zambia for Excellency!
May we kindly please request that you thank the staff for their excellent service! and commend them on our behalf.
It is always a pleasure to receive such high standards, and we truly appreciate their efforts.
And
On time. great service with a smile from everyone. Well-done
And
Ndola airport had rain, and bus was provided for local flight. Bravo
And
Had an infant and was helped carry the luggage and was prioritized when boarding.
The air hostess Christine made sure my Infant daughter and I were comfortable, and she kept checking on us during the flight which was very comforting
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