Air Tanzania Freighter gets approval from Chinese aviation to ferry cargo between Dar-es-Salaam and Guangzhou

Air Tanzania has received approval from the Chinese aviation regulators to be transporting cargo using the ATCL freighter from Dar es Salaam to Guangzhou.

The recently acquired Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL)’s Boeing 767-300 Freighter has a capacity of hauling a total of 54 tons of shipment and still be able to travel the skies for up to 10 hours without the need to refuel.

Air Tanzania’s cargo freight between the country and China takes off in the course of December 2024, according to reports from top officials as divulged by the Tanzanian embassy in Beijing.

When the airline’s first cargo plane was delivered in 2023, the Tanzanian National carrier outlined initial freight services including cities in the Middle East and India and now it seems China, which is the biggest global trader with East African countries, is joining the list.

The Guangzhou route is bound to keep the state carrier rather busy.

This is because the bilateral trade volume between Dar and Beijing is being averaged at over USD 6 billion annually and counting.

Tanzania has been exporting goods such as agricultural products, minerals, and leather to China, while importing a wide range of Chinese products, including machinery, electronics, textiles, domestic appliances and construction materials.

At first, Air Tanzania had stated that its cargo network will include flights to Dubai (UAE) and Mumbai (India) as well as the African destinations such as Kinshasa and Lubumbashi precisely to facilitate the UNICEF mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Air Tanzania Cargo operated its first flight to Hong Kong using its only Boeing 767-300 freighter on June 3, 2024.

Air Tanzania received the new-build Boeing twinjet with registration 5H-TCO, in June 2023.

Christened, ‘Lake Tanganyika,’ the aircraft is powered by General Electric CF6 engines, in June 2023 almost three years after the country placed the order for the aircraft sometime in mid-2021.

According to a statement from Boeing in 2023, Air Tanzania was the first aircraft maker’s direct delivery of a 767-cargo jet to an African carrier.

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