Dubai-based low-cost airline flydubai announced the start of flights from Dubai to Kilimanjaro from 29th October 2017.
Kilimanjaro becomes the airline’s 3rd destination in Tanzania along with Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.
Only a few international carriers operate to Kilimanjaro and flydubai will be the first airline to provide direct air links from the UAE.
The airport is the major gateway to the Kilimanjaro region, a main international tourism destination that includes Mount Kilimanjaro, Arusha National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park.
flydubai will serve Kilimanjaro with six flights a week, three of which are via a stop in the capital, Dar es Salaam.
In addition, the carrier will increase direct flights to Zanzibar from three to eight flights a week, bringing the total number of flights to Tanzania to 14 flights a week.
Commenting on the launch of flights, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer of flydubai, said: “With the addition of the service to Kilimanjaro and more direct flights to Zanzibar, flydubai will operate 14 flights a week, marking a 133% increase in capacity to the market compared to the previous year. This is a healthy indication of the rising popularity of Tanzania as a preferred tourist destination and we are happy to be connecting the market to Dubai.”
“We expect to see healthy flows of trade and tourism on this route from the GCC and Eastern Europe via our hub in Dubai,” said Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice President Commercial (GCC, Subcontinent and Africa) of flydubai.
The airline began operations to Tanzania in 2014 and has seen a 3.5% increase in passengers numbers traveling between the UAE and Africa in 2016 compared to 2015.
