President Emmerson Mnangagwa has taken delivery of a US$54 million presidential jet – a Dassault Falcon 7X.
According to a ZimLive report, the aircraft was delivered in March, but it was not put into service until this week.
The jet, bearing the registration P4-SIM, appears brand new and its first known flight, according to tracking service FlightRadar24, was a flight from Paris in France to Johannesburg, South Africa, on 01 March.
Mnangagwa (80) used the aircraft for a flight to Victoria Falls on Wednesday where he hosted the Transform Africa Summit attended by four other African leaders.
He again flew on the aircraft to Bulawayo on Friday for the official opening of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF). ZimLive quoted a source as saying:
The aircraft arrived in early March and initially landed at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.
It was subsequently flown to the Air Force of Zimbabwe’s Manyame Airbase where it is being kept.
Mnangagwa has reportedly also approved the acquisition of four “VIP transport helicopters”.