Zanzibar airport beats Dar's JNIA in international arrivals for first time

Dar es Salaam. Zanzibar’s Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (AAKIA) has for the first time surpassed Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in terms of international arrivals.
According to the latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Zanzibar beat Dar es Salaam for two years in 2020 and 2021.
Credible sources from the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA), told The Citizen that it is the first time AAKIA overtakes JNIA which has been the country’s major host of international flights through the years.
“It is not common for JNIA to be overtaken,” he said, recounting that the 2020 AAKIA performance was triggered by Covid-19 pandemic.
As scheduled flights came to a halt due to the pandemic, a number of tourists opted for chattered flights to Zanzibar.
In the NBS report dubbed Tanzania in figures 2017- 2021, Zanzibar for three years (2017-2019) was receiving less number of international flight before thing changed during the pandemic.
Zanzibar in 2021 received 732,000 international passengers comparing of 604,000 that landed in Dar es Salaam with total difference of 128,000 arrivals.
Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA), came in third for where it has received 150,000 internationals passengers during the period under review while other airports in the country received only received 4, 000.
Last year, the country received about 922,000 foreign tourists, up from 620,000 at the height of the pandemic in 2020.
However, the JNIA came on top with large numbers of domestic passengers where in 2021 it received 881, 000 passengers ahead of  381, 00 of Zanzibar and 224, 000 of Kilimanjaro.