AIR Tanzania will start flying four times a week between Johannesburg and Dar es Salaam from June 28. TC209 will depart from Johannesburg at 14h20 arriving in Dar es Salaam at 18h35 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. TC208 will depart from Dar es Salaam at 10h30, arriving in Johannesburg at 12h45 on the same days. The airline’s head of public relations, Josephat Kagirwa, told media that the route would be operated by a B787 Dreamliner configured with 22 seats in business class and 240 in economy class. The flights have been loaded in the GDSs under both the airline’s TC code and the Hahn Air code. Riaan Goosen, owner of Club Travel Zoo Lake, was pleased to hear about the new flights, saying it was always good to have competition in a market. He said there was a lot of business travel between South Africa and Dar es Salaam but that most of his corporate clients preferred to book with SAA for the Voyager miles. He said he would consider selling the airline for onward destinations, provided its connections were good. According to the airline’s website, it services Dodoma, Kigoma, Tabora, Mbeya, Mtwara, Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, Songea, Bukoba and Mwanza in Tanzania; and Bujumbura (Burundi), Comoros, Entebbe and Mumbai. Johannesburg is not yet listed. Operators told TNW they were eagerly awaiting further details of fares and schedules from Air Tanzania but at present it was too early to comment on whether the airline would be supported from a leisure perspective. TNW contacted Air Tanzania for further details but had not had a response at time of going to print.
