Zimbabwe has opened a new frontier in commercial aviation after the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe approved Drone Solutions Zimbabwe to conduct commercial drone delivery operations, paving the way for unmanned aircraft to transport medicines, vaccines and other time-critical supplies across the country.
The approval covers authorised hybrid aircraft and operations conducted under Visual Line of Sight, Extended Visual Line of Sight and Beyond Visual Line of Sight conditions, according to a company media brief issued in Harare on Wednesday.
The development could significantly alter last-mile logistics, particularly for rural and hard-to-reach communities where poor roads, long distances, flooding and other disruptions can delay the movement of essential supplies.
“This approval is bigger than Drone Solutions. It gives Zimbabwe an opportunity to build faster, more resilient and more inclusive logistics systems — and to ensure that geography does not stand between a person and essential healthcare or emergency support,” said Drone Solutions International president and group chief executive Jeremiah Musabayana.
The approval follows a certification process that included a long-distance medical delivery demonstration between the Drone Solutions Training Institute flight school at Blue Ridge and Murewa Hospital.
The demonstration involved air traffic control personnel stationed at the flight school, Murewa Hospital and the control centre at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, with the flight monitored in real time through the company's flight-management platform.
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The company said the system is designed initially around critical logistics, including emergency medicines, vaccines, diagnostic samples, blood products, maternal-health supplies and antivenom.
It could also support rural hospitals and communities cut off by floods or road closures, while creating a platform for time-sensitive agricultural, veterinary and industrial cargo.
The development comes after Drone Solutions began positioning drone delivery as a healthcare logistics solution earlier this year. In April, the company announced plans for a network aimed at reaching remote communities and using drones to move vaccines, blood products, pathology samples and medicines.
The company has also previously demonstrated long-distance drone operations in Zimbabwe, including a flight to Murewa Hospital under CAAZ observation.
The regulatory approval marks a shift from demonstrations and feasibility exercises to potentially deployable commercial services.
Drone Solutions said it is now ready to move into operational pilots and develop delivery corridors, combining route design, airspace coordination, cargo and healthcare integration with trained crews, aircraft monitoring and maintenance support.
The company is inviting Government, the ministries responsible for health and transport, hospitals, humanitarian agencies, development finance institutions and private companies to participate in building locally operated delivery networks.
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