[4][5] From its hub at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, the carrier used to operate a network within southern Africa that also included Asia and London-Gatwick.

Serving a reduced domestic network, the carrier resumed operations for a short period between May and early July 2012, when flights were again discontinued.

At this time, the airline flew domestic services linking Harare with Buffalo Range, Bulawayo, Gweru, Hwange National Park, Kariba, Masvingo and Victoria Falls, regional services to Blantyre, Durban, Gaborone, Johannesburg, Lusaka and Nairobi, and intercontinental flights to Athens, Frankfurt and London; the Harare–Perth–Sydney route offered using Qantas Boeing 747SP aircraft was flown in association with Air Zimbabwe.

[18] A foreign exchange crisis in the country led to the cancellation of the carrier's operations in late 2005, following the lack of hard currency to pay for the fuel.

[23][24][25] It was announced in early November 2011 that the government would absorb a US$140 million debt in order to make the company more attractive to foreign investors.

[26][27] Already in December 2011, the carrier struggled to provide its regional and overseas services amid aircraft impoundments over unpaid debts.

[31][32] Following a failed revival attempt, in which the pilots refused to resume domestic services over US$35 million in unpaid salaries and allowances, it was announced on 24 February 2012 that Air Zimbabwe would be grounded indefinitely.

[41] Reports indicated the carrier resumed domestic operations connecting Bulawayo, Harare and Victoria Falls, as well as the regional route to Johannesburg, on a daily basis in April 2013,[42] ahead of the 2013 Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.

[2] On 8 June 2018, it was reported that Air Zimbabwe has debts of more than $300 million and can no longer fly to most destinations due to threats by debtors to impound its aircraft.

[53] By March 2023, Air Zimbabwe reported clearing its debt to IATA, and was hoping to resume London-Harare flights.

[2] In October 2016, Simba Chikore was appointed to be the Chief Operating Officer (COO), amid much controversy and accusations of nepotism as he is also the son-in-law to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

[59][60] Various performance figures have been publicly professed, but are subject to change and may therefore not be accurate (for example, the number of employees have allegedly remained fixed in recent years).

[80][81][additional citation(s) needed] As part of its recovery strategy, the airline in April 2020 has launched a comprehensive revival plan.

[82] Victoria Falls will connect local resorts (Buffalo Range, Kariba, Matopos, and Hwange) and regional destinations in Windhoek (Namibia), Maun (Botswana) and Cape Town (South Africa).

[83] The main Harare hub will introduce regular flights to Lusaka (Zambia), Cape Town, Dubai (UAE) and Lubumbashi and Kinshasa (both in the Democratic Republic of Congo).

In February 2011 the airline temporarily suspended its flights to Johannesburg over likely impoundments of its planes by creditors due to unpaid debts.

[84] Regional and domestic services were suspended for a short period in May 2011, following both the grounding of its Boeing 737-200 fleet by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) over maintenance concerns,[85] and the impoundment of a leased aircraft from Zambezi Airlines over a US$460,000 unpaid debt.

[90] Owing both to the grounding of the 737-200 fleet and to fuel shortages in the country, domestic services were suspended and regional flights were operated on an irregular basis.

[95][96][97] Once again, overseas and domestic flights were temporarily cancelled in early November 2011, this time owing to an unpaid debt with fuel providers.

[100] However, flights to the United Kingdom and South Africa were suspended in January 2012 over likely impoundments of the airline's aircraft for outstanding debts.

[127] As of January 2012[update], there had been discrepant versions over the acquisition of new Airbus aircraft, since the secretary of the Zimbabwean Ministry of Transport has denied the transaction,[128] but there exist records for the delivery of an A320 to the company.