Tanzania's Dar es Salaam airport is hoping Delta Air Lines and Hong Kong Express will become the next carriers secured at the World Route Development Forum.
Tanzania Airport Authority is attending the forum for the fifth consecutive year. The authority's commercial manager, Scolasticka Mukajanga says Dar es Salaam's newest carrier, Turkish Airlines, was secured after meetings held at the last three forums.
"We started with them at Stockholm, then at Kuala Lumpur and then in Beijing they confirmed," Mukajanga says.
Turkish launched four weekly flights to Dar es Salaam's Julius Nyerere International Airport in June. Mukanganga also credits Routes' Africa event for helping secure Qatar Airways, which began serving Dar es Salaam in 2008.
Julius Nyerere Airport commercial manager Efatha Lyimo says meetings are scheduled in Vancouver with Hong Kong Express and Delta. Lyimo and Mukajanga are confident Hong Kong Express is close to confirming service to Dar es Salaam.
"We still have some negotiations with Hong Kong Express. We met them last year in Beijing and will meet them again here," Lyimo says.
Lyimo says the airport will also meet with Delta for the third time at Routes as it tries to persuade the US carrier to serve Tanzania. Delta has repeatedly delayed the launch of service to Nairobi, which it initially planned to launch in 2008. Tanzania is now trying to convince Delta to serve Dar es Salaam instead, claiming most leisure passengers flying into Kenya end up holidaying in Tanzania.
"All the tourist attractions are in Tanzania but a lot of tourists have to go to Nairobi," says Lyimo. "We say come to the destination itself."
Julius Nyerere Airport last year handled 1.5 million passengers in 2009 and expects to handle 1.6 million passengers in 2010. It is the largest of three international airports in Tanzania - the others being at Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar. The Tanzania Airport Authority has positioned Dar es Salaam as country's main hub. Lyimo says Europe is a big leisure market for Julius Nyerere while Asia and the Middle East are its largest business markets.
Source: Flight Daily News
