Air Tanzania continues its international expansion in Africa, with the launch of services to South Africa in late November. The airline plans to operate four flights per week with Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, configured for 181 passengers in two seating classes (16 Business and 165 Economy).
In accordance with its website, Air Tanzania’s inaugural flight to Johannesburg will depart from Dar-es-Salaam, the country’s largest city and main financial hub, on November 30th at 11:00 local time. With this schedule, the company will offer 724 weekly seats on each leg, reaching almost 3,000 seats a month, with Airlink being the only competitor on the Johannesburg – Dar-es-Salaam route.
Schedule between DAR and JNB · Air Tanzania
Daily except Tuesday and Thursday
- TC 208 Dar-es-Salaam DAR 11:00 · 13:15 JNB Johannesburg
- TC 209 Johannesburg JNB 14:51 · 18:30 DAR Dar-es-Salaam
Currently, Airlink, as we announced in our September Africa and Middle East report, boosted from seven to eight weekly services on this route, which operates by 98-seat Embraer 190s. In addition, as of January 20th, 2025, South African Airways will once again serve between the two cities, providing one daily frequency on Airbus A320 jets.
Regarding Zanzibar, the other destination in Tanzania offered from Johannesburg’s Oliver Reginald Tambo Airport, FlySafair has flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with Boeing 737-800s.
Air Tanzania has one of the most modern fleets in Africa, averaging 5 years old. Airbus A220-300, Boeing 737 MAX 9, Boeing 767-300(F), Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and Dash 8 are part of the airline.
Fleet
- Airbus A220-300: 4
- Boeing 737 MAX 9: 2
- Boeing 767-300(F): 1
- Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner: 3
- DHC-8-300: 1
- DHC-8-400: 2
As can be seen through our database, in 2024, Air Tanzania added two aircraft to its fleet, including a Boeing 737 MAX 9 and its third Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Both of these are brand new, being less than one year old.
The Boeing 737 MAX 9, with registration 5H-TCQ, departed Seattle Boeing Field on March 23rd for Dar-es-Salaam, where it arrived on March 26th after a three-day ferry flight. San Juan (Puerto Rico) and Dakar were the stops on the route.
Meanwhile, the new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, registered 5H-TCR, took off from Charleston at 20:48 local time on August 19th. Following a ferry flight of 15 hours, on August 20th, the aircraft landed at Abeid Amani Karume International Airport in Zanzibar at 18:45 local time.
The next day, the 787 performed the Zanzibar – Dar-es-Salaam leg, which took 13 minutes.
Its first scheduled flight was on August 28th, covering the Dar-es-Salaam and Mumbai route. So far, besides the Indian city, Beijing, Doha, Guangzhou, Harare and Lusaka were its routes, all of them from/to Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar.
On the other hand, on October 30th at 10:22 local time, Norse UK’s inaugural flight from London Gatwick arrived in Cape Town. The South African city becomes the airline’s first regular destination in Africa and the fifth route to/from the British capital, its main hub.
Norse UK will fly three times weekly using the 338-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which are configured with 56 in Business and 282 in Economy. British and Virgin will be Norse’s two competitors on the London – Cape Town route, but both operate from/to Heathrow Airport.
Schedule between LGW and CPT · Norse
Monday, Wednesday and Saturday
- Z0 795 London LGW 20:30 · 09:50+1 CPT Cape Town
Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday
- Z0 796 Cape Town CPT 11:45 · 21:20 LGW London
“We’re thrilled with the amazing response to our new London to Cape Town route. A fully sold-out inaugural flight shows just how much people want affordable, direct long-haul travel. Cape Town is a beautiful destination, and we’re excited to offer our passengers the chance to visit while enjoying great value and comfort,” said Bjørn Tore Larsen, CEO and Founder of Norse Atlantic Airways.
