Tanzania to receive another Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner
Boeing B787-8 Dreamliner
What you need to know:
- The new plane from the US has the capacity to carry 262 passengers with 22 seats in business class and 240 seats in economy, along with capacity between 15 and 20 tonnes of cargo depending on the volume of passengers and their luggage.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is set to receive another new plane, Boeing B787-8 Dreamliner on Monday to add fleet that could see the national flag carrier Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) expand its route network.
With the capacity to carry 262 passengers, the aircraft will be received by Zanzibar President, Dr Hussein Mwinyi, at the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport in the isles.
Tanzania will now have a total of two Dreamliner aircraft.
The Minister for Transport, Prof Makame Mbarawa, said in a statement on Sunday August 18, 2024 that the arrival of the modern long-range aircraft will enable the ATCL to increase the number of its flights.
"This is a modern long-range aircraft of the B787-8 Dreamliner type, which will enable ATCL to increase its flight routes to the regional and international destinations they currently serve together," said Prof Mbarawa.
The new plane from the US has the capacity to carry 262 passengers with 22 seats in business class and 240 seats in economy, along with capacity between 15 and 20 tonnes of cargo depending on the volume of passengers and their luggage.
Prof Mbarawa said that the new plane will enable ATCL to expand planned routes to Kinshasa, Goma, Muscat and Lagos.
Currently, ATCL serves 14 local destinations: Mwanza, Bukoba, Songea, Zanzibar, Katavi, Dar es Salaam, Geita, Kigoma, Dodoma, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, and Tabora.
The airliner also serves the following regional and international destinations including Entebbe-Uganda; Nairobi – Kenya; Bujumbura – Burundi; Hahaya-Comoro; Lubumbashi – DRC; Ndola, Lusaka – Zambia; Harare- Zimbabwe; Mumbai – India; Guangzhou – China and Dubai – UAE.
Receipt of the new long-range aircraft enables ATCL to have a total of 16 aircraft, of which 15 aircraft are new and have been purchased as a result of ATCL’s revitalisation programme that began in 2016 and one aircraft is old.
Prof Mbarawa mentioned that the government will continue purchasing planes, and by mid-2025, they expect to receive another new aircraft.
On his part, the Minister of Works, Transport, and Communications of Zanzibar, Dr Khalid Mohamed Salum, said that the government of Zanzibar has plans to purchase a plane, but for now, it is focusing on improving the infrastructure of the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport as well as the Pemba Airport.
ATCL's legal advisor John Zunda said that currently, planes cannot be seized because the government has already settled the debts.
