Dar es Salaam is Etihad Airways' third departure point in East Africa, along with Nairobi and Entebbe, and its ninth destination on the continent.
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| Etihad Airways Airbus A320 aircraft welcomed by traditional water-cannon salute at JNIA Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. |
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - Etihad Airways, the Abu Dhabi-registered airline, has on Tuesday launched its daily flights to Tanzania, adding itself to the growing list of Middle East carriers eyeing Tanzanian and African airspace.
Operated by a two-class Airbus A320 aircraft with 16 Business Class and 120 Economy Class seats, the new service is designed to provide business and leisure travellers with a direct daily service between Dar es Salaam and Abu Dhabi, with convenient onward connections to key destinations in the GCC region, Europe, Indian Subcontinent, North Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia.
Etihad Airways joins the list of a growing number of Middle East registered airlines lobbying East African skies. Dar es Salaam will be Etihad Airways' 110th destination globally and its 11th destination in Africa and the Indian Ocean, reports from the airline’s head office in Abu Dhabi said.
“The launch of Etihad Airways’ flights to Dar es Salaam is consistent with our strategy of targeting areas of strong growth in emerging markets. said Daniel Barranger, Etihad Airways’ senior vice president - global sales.
He added: “Dar es Salaam is a wonderful destination for tourists seeking to experience the great culture and history of Tanzania, and provides the gateway to numerous national and international tourist attractions, including Mount Kilimanjaro, the wildlife-rich national parks of the Serengeti, and the spice island of Zanzibar.
“The UAE is also a major trading partner with Tanzania and our new point-to-point services strengthen the two-way flow of trade and commerce between the two countries. The flight scheduling offers guests convenient onward connections, and caters for the strong traffic flows between Tanzania and key destinations across our global network, such as Ahmedabad and Mumbai in India or Beijing and Shanghai in China.
“Not only does this service provide our guests with direct access to an exciting new business and tourism destination, it also further strengthens our presence in East Africa and across the African continent,”
The flights will be connecting the Tanzanian capital with 45 destinations across the Middle East, Europe, the Indian Subcontinent, North and Southern Asia and Australia through daily flights, the Etihad report said.
Taking advantage of the fast-growing air connection between East Africa and the Middle East, Tanzania is lobbying tourists and travel trade investments from the Gulf States and the rest of the Arab World.
A team of tourist business stakeholders and marketing officials from Tanzania visited Dubai and other Middle East states last year, looking for potential tourists and investors in tourism from the Gulf States and invited them to invest in Tanzania’s fast-growing tourist industry, taking advantage of the Middle East airlines new routes.
Tanzania Tourist Board had launched marketing campaigns to attract visitors from the Gulf States through these airlines.
Hotel and accommodations, hunting and camping safaris are areas of tourist investment and the Tanzania Tourist Board is looking to market them in the Gulf States. Although the number of Arab tourists to East Africa is not as big as the European and American holidaymakers, there has been a notable number of hunting tourists from the Middle East to Tanzania and the rest of East Africa.
About 15,000 tourists from the Gulf visit East Africa every year.
Although small in numbers, East African nations are taking advantage of the Middle East-registered airlines to be a lifeline for Arab-speaking holidaymakers.
Airlines registered in Middle Eastern states that are flying to Tanzania include Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, Oman Air, Turkish Airlines and Fly Dubai, which are the most competitive over Tanzania’s airspace.
Middle East-registered airlines have taken over the Tanzanian airspace from the traditional European-based airlines which had pulled out their flights between key European cities and Dar es Salaam.
Among European carriers that pulled their flights out of Tanzania are SAS (Scandinavian), Sabena, Air France, Lufthansa, Aeroflot (Russia), Alitalia and British Airways.
Only two European-registered airlines currently fly to Tanzania - Swiss International Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
Source: arabianaerospace, eTurboNews
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