Air Tanzania plans to launch cargo plane to Harare

Zim Now Writer

Air Tanzania which is planning to launch its maiden cargo flight to Mumbai, India on July 28 says it will also be going into cargo including Harare.

“We will start with Mumbai (India) and other parts of Africa, including Lubumbubashi (DRC), Lusaka (Zambia), Harare (Zimbabwe), Nairobi (Kenya) and Entebbe (Uganda),” said Air Tanzania’s chief executive officer, Ladislaus Matindi in a statement.

According to tradingeconomics.com, Zimbabwe imported goods worth US$14.64 from Tanzania during 2021 and exported stuff worth US$7.7 million in the same period.

Zimbabwe mostly exports agricultural products to Tanzania and main imports include apparel, glass products and cosmetics.

Air Tanzania acquired a Boeing 767 freighter with a capacity to haul about 52.7 tonnes after a last instalment of $37 million.

A scandal broke out in Tanzania when the 2021/2022 Controller and Auditor-General report indicated that the last instalment for the plane of US$37 million had been inflated to US$86 million when presented to the government. President Samia Suluhu Hassan asked all individuals involved in the fraud to resign

The aircraft landed in Dar es Salaam this Saturday. This is Africa’s first production B767-300F.

Matindi said the airline is in the final stages of pilots training and registration of the plane before takes off for India on its maiden flight.

Matindi said Air Tanzania is looking at connecting to connecting to more of Africa and the world with target African destinations including Kinshasa (DRC) and Lagos (Nigeria).

The airline plans to acquire three more planes to increase its fleet to 15 and plans to introduce cargo flights to Dubai and China.