Kenya Airways eyes northern Tanzania tourist circuit

Kenya Airways and Qatar Airways are looking to further expand their flight services to Tanzania with an introduction of scheduled flights to Tanzania’s northern tourist circuit effective July of thi

Kenya Airways and Qatar Airways are looking to further expand their flight services to Tanzania with an introduction of scheduled flights to Tanzania’s northern tourist circuit effective July of this year.

Kenya Airways’ Managing Director Titus Naikuni said the airline has added Kilimanjaro to its regular destinations starting with six flights a week in July up to end of September then fly daily flights from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro International Airport from early this year.

Qatar Airways will also start daily flights from Doha to the same airport during the same month of July. The launch of Qatar flights at Kilimanjaro comes at the onset of the tourism high season. Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akber Al Baker said the airline would serve Kilimanjaro with an Airbus A320 via Nairobi.

The two airlines join other major international carriers landing in northern Tanzania including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Edelweiss Air, Condor Air, Rwanda Air, and Ethiopian Airlines, all targeting tourists flying to the area.

Tourists and other travelers from Europe and America will have another option to reach Tanzania’s northern tourist circuit through Doha and Nairobi hubs, which provide air connections to big capitals and cities around the world such as London where Qatar Airways will soon introduce five flights a day from its hub in Doha.

In Africa alone this year, Qatar Airways has pursued its strategy aggressively of focusing on underserved markets. The carrier recently launched daily scheduled services from its Doha hub to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda in East Africa.

Come August of this year, the airline will introduce daily flights to the Kenyan tourist town of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean coats, its second point in Kenya, with both destinations aimed largely at the leisure market.

Effective October this year, Qatar Airways will expand its operations in Africa with launching of scheduled flights to Mozambique. The three weekly flights between Doha and the Mozambican capital of Maputo will be operated by long-haul Boeing 777 aircraft via Johannesburg in South Africa. The former Portuguese colony in southern Africa becomes Qatar Airways’ fourth new route across the diverse African continent to be launched during 2012.

“Mozambique is a great example of a market that we believe has great potential linking up with key feeder markets in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world,” said Al Baker.

Qatar Airways has seen rapid growth in just 15 years of operation, currently operating a modern fleet of 109 aircraft to 116 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America, and South America.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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