The airport company operating the Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), which is located some 50 kilometers outside the city of Arusha, has confirmed that work to expand, upgrade, and modernize the airport will start by mid-2015.
The financing for the contract worth US$40 million is in place and has been arranged with the assistance of the Dutch government already last year. Airlines flying into JRO from abroad include among others KLM, Qatar Airways, FlyDubai, Turkish Airlines, RwandAir, and Kenya Airways, while the airport is also served by domestic carriers like Precision Air and Fastjet, besides light aircraft operators flying from Kilimanjaro International to the national parks or other more remote and smaller airfields and airstrips.
Work is also ongoing for a new terminal in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s main aviation hub, where the new facility will massively increase passenger capacity and offer state-of-the-art facilities for travelers who are presently faced with an aged overcrowded facility.
Arusha, aka the Safari Capital of East Africa, is the springboard for tourists visiting the northern safari circuit national parks like Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti, while the nearby town of Moshi is the starting point for Kilimanjaro climbs.
Tanzania’s tourism industry, like across the borders in Kenya and Uganda, has been struggling with a downturn, and the refurbishment of the international airport outside Arusha will no doubt help the sector through improved facilities to regain momentum. The Tanzania Tourist Board has committed funds towards a major marketing drive in North America, one of the country’s key source markets for safari tourists.
Visitors to Tanzania’s main tourism trade show, the Karibu Travel Market Tanzania, held this year from May 29-31 inclusive at their new venue Magereza Grounds in Arusha, will for the last time travel through JRO before work commences a few weeks later.
