All airlines Africa
Proflight Zambia
Powered chairs need the airline’s prior approval · carried free · 48 h notice.
- Advance notice
- 48hours before departure
- Powered wheelchair
- Conditional
- Lithium, battery installed
- Not published
- Cost to carry
- Free
Who to contact
Transcribed from the airline’s own pages, exactly as it labels them.
- PhoneZambia & Southern Africa — Central Reservations (books wheelchair assistance)Daily and public holidays 06:00–19:00 Central Africa Time (closed 25 Dec)
- EmailReservations — wheelchair assistance requests (at least 24 h before the flight)
- Online form
- Relay / text+260 777 034 742, daily 06:00–19:00 CATWhatsApp chat — reservations
There is no separate disability desk: wheelchair assistance is booked through Central Reservations by phone, WhatsApp or email. Ticket offices and airport offices do not take telephone calls.
Read it from the source
Powered wheelchairs & batteries
The part that goes wrong. Battery chemistry and watt-hours decide whether your chair flies, and the rules differ depending on whether the battery can be removed.
"Battery powered mobility aids" appear on Proflight's list of "restricted items requiring advance notification" — items "that may be carried on Proflight Zambia service but require approval prior to travel"; you must contact your local reservations department at least 48 h before departure. Carriage is also subject to the per-flight cap on the number of wheelchair passengers.
Special Assistance — Wheelchairs (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Battery-powered mobility aids and "Lithium ion batteries (collapsible)" require approval prior to travel with 48 h notice. Loose batteries are prohibited in both checked and hand baggage, but "equipment containing correctly installed batteries can be packed in your checked baggage".
Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published for mobility aids. The restricted-items list mentions only "Lithium ion Batteries with a Watt-hour rating exceeding 100 Wh but not exceeding 160 Wh" as needing advance notification — a general dangerous-goods entry, not a wheelchair limit.
Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published; Proflight gives no watt-hour cap for a wheelchair battery removed into the cabin.
Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published for mobility aids. The only figure on the site is the general restricted-items entry for lithium-ion batteries "exceeding 100 Wh but not exceeding 160 Wh", which requires advance notification.
Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not stated for wheelchair batteries. The general restricted-items list says "Spare lithium ion batteries – Maximum of two spare batteries per person" with 48 h advance notification, but Proflight does not say whether that covers spare mobility-aid batteries, and it separately prohibits loose batteries in checked and hand baggage.
Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published. Proflight says only that "equipment containing correctly installed batteries can be packed in your checked baggage", with no wheelchair-specific instruction.
Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"Non-spillable batteries" are on the restricted list requiring approval prior to travel and at least 48 h notice to reservations. No handling conditions are published.
Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"Spillable batteries or with lithium batteries" are on the restricted list requiring approval prior to travel and at least 48 h notice to reservations. Proflight publishes no packaging, disconnection or upright-carriage requirements.
Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published; no terminal-insulation or disconnection requirement is stated.
Not published; no battery specification sheet or manufacturer label is requested, only advance notification to reservations.
Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published; no hold-door or maximum-device dimensions are given for the turboprop/regional-jet fleet.
Not published.
Not published for powered chairs.
A powered chair is treated as a restricted dangerous-goods item: it may be carried, but only with reservations' approval obtained at least 48 h before departure.
Manual wheelchairs
The chair itself is accepted free of charge as checked baggage or loaded into the hold at the aircraft steps, but carriage of the passenger is capped: "Flights are limited by safety regulations as to the number of wheelchair passengers allowed onboard, so there may not be space available on your flight", and assistance requested less than 24 h before departure is not guaranteed.
Special Assistance — Wheelchairs (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Baggage — allowances, excess fees and liability (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published. Hand baggage is limited to 5 kg and must fit in the floor space under the seat in front (30 x 25 x 15 cm domestic, 65 x 20 x 35 cm international), which no wheelchair would meet, but Proflight states no cabin-stowage rule for a folding chair.
Baggage — allowances, excess fees and liability (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published.
No maximum chair size published. Proflight notes only that its turboprop and regional-jet fleet has limited payload, and that equipment measuring more than 1.5 m in any direction, or more than 1.0 m in any two directions, should be pre-cleared with reservations at least 48 h before the flight — a rule stated for sports equipment, not explicitly for wheelchairs.
Baggage — allowances, excess fees and liability (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published for wheelchairs. The general checked-baggage rules (no single piece over 32 kg, total dimensions of a bag no more than 157 cm) are not stated to apply to mobility aids, which are outside the allowance and exempt from excess charges.
Baggage — allowances, excess fees and liability (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not stated. Proflight says a personal wheelchair may be "put into hold at aircraft steps" but does not say where it is returned to you on arrival.
Special Assistance — Wheelchairs (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Booking & cost
Battery-powered mobility aids and spillable/non-spillable/lithium batteries are on Proflight's restricted list: "you must contact your local reservations department at least 48 hours prior to departure" for approval. Airport wheelchair assistance itself must be requested at booking or at least 24 h before the flight, and check-in is 90 min before international / 60 min before domestic departures.
Special Assistance — Wheelchairs (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"There may not be wheelchair available within 24 hours of flight or upon arrival at airport. Flights are limited by safety regulations as to the number of wheelchair passengers allowed onboard, so there may not be space available on your flight." At Zambian airports "Wheelchair Complete" cannot be booked online — book normal Wheelchair and call Reservations to upgrade.
Special Assistance — Wheelchairs (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"Personal wheelchairs transported on flight as checked baggage or put into hold at aircraft steps, are not counted as part of your checked baggage allowance. Your personal wheelchair will be weighed but there will be no excess baggage charges due on the wheelchair weight." Separately, the "Wheelchair Complete" boarding service carries a high charge at Botswana, Namibian and South African airports (the ground handler's Passenger Mobility Unit cost, passed on to the airline); at Zambian airports the equivalent manual assistance is free.
Special Assistance — Wheelchairs (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Baggage — allowances, excess fees and liability (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published — Proflight exempts "personal wheelchairs" from the allowance without stating a number.
Baggage — allowances, excess fees and liability (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"Proflight Zambia's liability for loss, damage and delay is limited unless a higher value is declared in advance and relevant charges are paid. The limited liability for baggage loss, damage or pilferage is limited to US$20.00 per kilo for checked baggage... and US$400.00 per passenger for unchecked baggage." No mobility-aid-specific rule is published, and a wheelchair is weighed at check-in even though it is not charged.
Baggage — allowances, excess fees and liability (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
On board
Not published. Proflight describes a ground "sliding chair" used to get you on board at Botswana, Namibian and South African airports, but no on-board aisle chair.
Special Assistance — Wheelchairs (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published.
"Wheelchair Complete and/or Steps" is for passengers who cannot walk up the aircraft steps or get on/off the bus: at Botswana, Namibian and South African airports a special vehicle takes you in the wheelchair to the aircraft and a sliding chair gets you on board (charged, because the ground handler's Passenger Mobility Unit cost is passed on); at Zambian airports "we will use manual firemen assistance to get you onboard the aircraft" free of charge.
Special Assistance — Wheelchairs (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published for passengers with disabilities; the site mentions exit rows only in relation to under-seat hand baggage.
Baggage — allowances, excess fees and liability (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Fleet detail. Proflight flies turboprops and regional jets that "cannot carry the same payload as a large jet aircraft", so interline baggage may be offloaded to the next flight; equipment over 1.5 m in any direction, or over 1.0 m in any two directions, should be pre-cleared with reservations at least 48 h before the flight.
Worth knowing
Two hard constraints a wheelchair user must plan around. (1) Capacity: "Flights are limited by safety regulations as to the number of wheelchair passengers allowed onboard, so there may not be space available on your flight", and a chair requested within 24 h of departure is not guaranteed — book the assistance with the ticket. (2) Cost of boarding, not of the chair: carriage of your own wheelchair is free and outside the baggage allowance, but the "Wheelchair Complete" service (special vehicle plus sliding chair) attracts a "high charge" at Botswana, Namibian and South African airports, while at Zambian airports staff carry you up the steps manually at no charge. Battery-powered mobility aids sit on the restricted-items list and need reservations approval 48 h ahead; Proflight publishes no watt-hour, packaging or terminal rules for them, so a lithium power chair must be cleared case by case. The general restricted list also says a maximum of two spare lithium-ion batteries per person, but does not tie that to wheelchair spares — a human should confirm before relying on it.
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these.
- s1 Special Assistance — Wheelchairs (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s2 Baggage — allowances, excess fees and liability (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s3 Get Ready To Fly — Prohibited and restricted items (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s4 Contact information — reservations, offices and enquiry form (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
Record quality
Record status researched · confidence medium · 4 official sources · 4 contacts · 41% of the fields this reference tracks are answered. Newest source read 29 July 2026, the day before this page was built. What these mean.