Air Tanzania, the African nation’s flag carrier, is hoping to expand its international route network in the approaching years. Prospective destinations for the carrier include African cities resembling Ghana’s capital Accra, Lilongwe in neighboring Malawi, the South Sudanese capital of Juba, and the economic powerhouse of Lagos, Nigeria, in addition to the international hubs of London and Dubai.
The airline, which currently has a small fleet of Airbus A220, de Havilland Dash 8, and Boeing 787 aircraft, hopes to begin service to those destinations with recent jets to be delivered in the approaching years.
While the carrier served as a small regional player in East Africa for many of its existence, a 2016 initiative by Tanzanian President Magufuli saw the airline establish a stronger international presence, including a recent drive to amass landing slots at London’s Gatwick Airport.
A novel network
Currently, the airline’s international network consists of a handful of nearby African cities, in addition to the long-haul destinations of Mumbai and Guangzhou.
The carrier’s expansion strategy throughout Africa has been and stays fairly straightforward. The airline sought to first connect Tanzania with its neighboring nations and now goals to determine direct service between Dar es Salaam and other large business centers in Africa.
The event of a long-haul route network, nonetheless, has not followed a conventional pattern. While most would expect Air Tanzania’s first destinations outside of Africa to be the world’s largest transportation hubs in Europe and the Middle East, the airline selected as an alternative to determine links in India and China first.
The connection to Mumbai is well explained—Tanzania’s population of immigrants from India exceeds 60,000, allowing the carrier to cater to the demand from the diaspora.
The carrier’s service to Guangzhou, nonetheless, doesn’t cater to an ethnic community but somewhat speaks to the developing economic relationship between Tanzania and China. Recently, the nation signed a $2.2 Billion contract with a Chinese firm for the development of a railroad connecting the nation to most of East-Central Africa.
Expansion beyond recent destinations
Air Tanzania’s growth has not only come by way of route additions. Notably, the carrier’s passenger numbers have increased exponentially, ballooning from 4,000 monthly in 2016 to 90,000 in 2023, in addition to expanding its market share from 2.4% to 57%.
Moreover, the carrier has recently entered partnerships with Middle Eastern players including Emirates, Oman Air, and Qatar Airways. The airline also joined forces with Air Senegal in March to handle Airbus A220 groundings.
Photo: Colinmthompson/Shutterstock
Moreover, the state-owned airline’s success has develop into some extent of national pride, with Managing Director Ladislaus Matindi praising the carrier’s revolutionary staff of 106 pilots and 129 engineers—just about all of whom are Tanzanian—in a recent statement.
The airline also goals to construct out its carrier network, despite an April hiccup involving a price inflation of the primary Boeing 767 freighter delivered to the carrier.
Now, with a Dash 8-Q400, two Boeing 737-9 MAX aircraft, a brand new Dreamliner, and a 767 freighter scheduled for delivery this 12 months, Air Tanzania looks forward to expanding its list of destinations and further connecting the East African nation to the world.