The Airports Company of Zimbabwe (ACZ) has spotlighted Charles Prince Airport as a busy hub of general aviation activity, sharing footage of the airport’s daily plane spotting alongside insights from airport manager Mr E. Murungweni on the steady rhythm of take-offs and landings that define operations at the site.
Charles Prince Airport is located in Zvimba District, roughly sixteen kilometres northwest of Harare, close to the fast-developing New City and the newly built Parliament Building at Mount Hampden. The airport traces its origins to the early 1930s, when it began life as a Royal Air Force and Southern Rhodesian Air Force training base during the Second World War, closing briefly around 1948 before the Mashonaland Flying Club relocated there in 1957.
The airport was formally converted to civilian use in 1973 and takes its name from Charles Hilton Prince, a respected aviation pioneer who served as the airfield’s Chief Flying Instructor and first civilian Air Traffic Controller and Airport Manager from 1958 until his death in 1973. In recognition of his contribution to Zimbabwean aviation, the Rhodesian government officially renamed the airport in his honour in 1978.
Today, Charles Prince Airport functions primarily as a hub for light aircraft, flight training organisations and charter operators, offering non-scheduled flights to destinations across the region, including South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Malawi. Its facilities include aircraft parking, maintenance and refuelling services, along with customs and immigration support, and its runway can accommodate aircraft such as the MA60. A distinctive feature of the airport is its direct proximity to a railway line, offering multimodal connectivity that supports cargo transfers between air and rail transport, a capability ACZ has highlighted as valuable for trade facilitation and logistics.
ACZ, a wholly government-owned company established in 2018 to acquire, develop and manage airports across the country, has previously indicated it is pursuing international concession agreements to help fund a broader redevelopment of Charles Prince Airport, alongside similar plans for Mutare Airport, with combined investment requirements estimated at around US$300 million. The redevelopment strategy envisions repositioning Charles Prince as a commercial secondary airport catering to business jets and charter flights, while continuing to support pilot training activities already based there.
The latest plane spotting content shared by ACZ captures this ongoing activity, showing everything from nimble training aircraft to sleek private jets moving through the airport’s daily operations. With redevelopment plans still under negotiation, Charles Prince Airport continues to serve as one of Zimbabwe’s most active general aviation sites, reflecting both its historical significance and its evolving role within the country’s wider aviation and trade infrastructure.
