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passengers departing from its airports paying US$10 and US$30 per head for domestic and international travel respectively as the authority seeks to raise US$400 million to upgrade infrastructure.
The new charges are with effect from May 1 this year.
Passengers also pay US$35 and US$10 per head as a service fee for international and domestic routes respectively.
These current passenger service fees are normal operating charges for services rendered to travellers from the time they enter the airport until they get into the aircraft.
In an interview yesterday, CAAZ chief executive officer, Mr David Chawota, said with effect from Sunday all departing passengers would be required to pay the Aviation Infrastructure Development Fund (AIDEF).
The fund, he said, would be used for rehabilitation and modernisation of aviation infrastructure to enhance safety and security.
The fees will be included on the air tickets except in special circumstances where cash payment may be required.
CAAZ has taken the new initiative to raise US$400 million in 10 years time to rehabilitate airports and fund airspace management, among others.
Once the aviation infrastructure is uplifted in this project, CAAZ will be able to play its critical role in the provision of services for the country’s fast growing tourism sector.
Mr Chawota said the authority had to play its critical facilitation role by availing necessary accessibility into the country as the best tourism market.
“For us to do that, we have had to adopt the user pay principle for such developments,” said Mr Chawota.
This initiative, he said, was not new in the aviation industry where the traveller would have to fork out a given amount of money towards a pre-developmental programme as approved by various stakeholders such as Government, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and IATA.
“We are saying this method of raising funds for the infrastructural development has been repaying in many countries in the world and has been found to be successful,” Mr Chawota said.
He said the money would not be part of the CAAZ recurrent expenditure but channelled towards identified projects.
The upgrading and refurbishment of infrastructure at the Harare International Airport started in 2002 but stalled in 2007 because of the harsh economic conditions.
Airports in need of upgrading are Harare International Airport, Victoria Falls International Airport, Joshua Nkomo International Airport, Kariba, Hwange and Buffalo Range.