A teaser banner signalling the imminent return of South African Airways to Tanzania in 2025 has added another detail.
If that is anything to go by, then the South African National Carrier may not just land in Dar-es-salaam when the airline’s planes start new flight routes here in the third week of January 2025.
SAA announced the return trip fare to be 7797 Rands, equivalent to USD 425.2 and this includes a meal or snack, beverages and generous baggage allowances.
But after the Julius Kambarage Nyerere International Airport (JKNIA)’s inaugural landing, chances are that the SAA passenger planes will extend their flights up north and link to the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) terminal as well.
The promotional flyer displays the South African flag on top of Mount Kilimanjaro, which teases an extension to Kilimanjaro Airport in Northern Tanzania, meaning the flight may later connect to Arusha and Moshi destinations.
The South African Airways intend to operate direct and daily flights between Johannesburg and Dar-Es-salaam cities effective from the 20th day of January 2025.
The airline’s revived flights to Tanzania are among the new African routes that the airline intends to rekindle in the course of the year 2025.
South African Airways’ latest move to revive their planes’ journeys between Gauteng Province of South Africa and the Commercial Coastal City of Dar-Es-salaam comes just as Air Tanzania is also resuming direct flights between Dar and Johannesburg.
Air Tanzania is operating four flights (TC 208 and TC 209 return trips) per week, between Julius Kambarage Nyerere International and Oliver Tambo International Airports, using the carrier’s Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft.
Essentially, South African Airways was supposed to start flying directly from Jo’burg to Dar from as early as September 2024, but for some reason the journeys were delayed and from the company’s new announcements, this will now happen in the third week of January 2025.
Insiders say that was because of the three new planes that the airline had ordered but somehow their deliveries got delayed.
In the past, South African Airways used to code share flights with Air Tanzania; however, it is still not clear if this transport arrangement will also be revived in 2025.
The flights between Johannesburg and Zanzibar, on the other hand are being served by FlySafair which connects the Oliver R Tambo airport to Abeid Amani Karume International in Unguja on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, aboard Boeing 737-800s.