Air Tanzania plans to start flying to Dubai on March 31
What you need to know:
- Flights are scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at fares that start at $530 (Sh1.4 million) for a return ticket.
Dar es Salaam. Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) is scheduled to start flying direct flights to Dubai from its Dar es Salaam hub on Sunday, the company has confirmed.
The company’s managing director, Mr Ladislaus Matindi, told The Citizen that the national carrier will be flying four times a week when the new route commences on March 31, 2024.
According to him, flights are scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at fares that start at $530 (Sh1.4 million) for a return ticket.
“The Dubai flights are commencing soon,” said Mr Matindi.
Other regional and international routes that have been inaugurated by the airline are Bujumbura, Lubumbashi, Entebbe, Ndola (Zambia), Johannesburg (launched in 2021, now suspended), Comoros, Harare, Guangzhou, Nairobi (Kenya), and Mumbai in India.
The airline's local routes include Mwanza, Arusha, Zanzibar, Kigoma, Mbeya, Bukoba, Tabora, Mtwara, Songea, Dodoma, Kilimanjaro, Kigoma, Zanzibar, Mpanda, and Iringa.
He said they have a number of new routes lined up to commence this year, after Dubai. The new routes in the offering include Kinshasa, Goma, Muscat, and London.
In another development, he said that the airline's strategy for the USA wasn't to do direct flights with Air Tanzania but through commercial arrangements such as interlining and code sharing with other airlines. “Our plan is still on and we continue working on it,” he said.
ATCL increased its fleet with the arrival of a second Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft on Tuesday. This latest addition will bring ATCL's fleet to a total of 15 aircraft, which includes two Boeing B737-9 Max models acquired last October.
