In June, Air France announced it would return to Kilimanjaro, having last served the Tanzanian destination in 1996. The three-weekly Airbus A350-900 operation will begin in November and operate triangularly with Zanzibar, reported Simple Flying.

The resumption, after nearly three decades, is notable for two main reasons. First, it will be Air France’s third airport in the country, becoming its only sub-Saharan nation with that many destinations. Second, despite Tanzania not being a Francophone country, Air France has expanded strongly there recently.

Why Tanzania?

Air France introduced Zanzibar flights in 2021 (they initially operated via Nairobi), Dar es Salaam in 2023, and Kilimanjaro in 2024. Speaking anonymously, an airline network planner and Africa specialist told Simple Flying about Tanzania’s appeal to the SkyTeam member:

“Air France has become so aggressive in Tanzania recently. It’s because of the massive surge in safari and beach tourism not only from its home market of France but also across Western Europe in particular.

Tanzania’s Ministry of Tourism social media team has been ultra-aggressive in promoting the country and the island [Zanzibar] to Europeans. The convenient visa-on-arrival approach plays a key role [other African nations should take note of this].”

Given the reliance on tourism, it might be assumed that yields – one part of the route performance equation – are not great. “You might be surprised to know that it is by no means low-yielding, unlike Paris to Southeast Asia, which involves a much longer flight with higher costs, too.”

France to Tanzania

In 2023, an estimated 260,000 point-to-point roundtrip passengers flew between France and all of Tanzania. Ignoring seasonality, the market had 356 passengers daily each way (PDEW). Inevitably, Paris accounted for most of this – about 205,000 (281 PDEW). “Both are big numbers for a home market to build on.”

Focusing on the 205,000 Paris passengers, 143,000 people travelled to/from Zanzibar (196 PDEW), 51,000 Kilimanjaro (70 PDEW), and 11,000 Dar es Salaam (15 PDEW). The latter’s low traffic figures show how small the less touristy and non-Francophone markets can be from the French capital, which then relies more on transit passengers.

“Once Air France begins its Kilimanjaro flights this winter, it should easily stimulate traffic by another 30-40%, potentially taking its volume to 71,000 annually [97 PDEW]. Europeans love to explore nature, especially if it’s warm.”

What about other places?

Air France will carry many passengers from other places to/from Tanzania, with many one-stop journeys available via Paris CDG. When Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, and Dar es Salaam are combined, the top 10 target markets are as follows, based on 2023 traffic figures. Combined, they had 715,000 passengers (979 PDEW).

That’s just the top 10!

• Frankfurt (125,000)

• London (119,000)

• Milan (106,000)

• Amsterdam (93,000)

• Rome (59,000)

• Vienna (50,000)

• Zurich (49,000)

• Brussels (47,000)

• Copenhagen (35,000)

• Geneva (32,000)

When added to Paris, there were 920,000 Tanzania passengers (1,260 PDEW). “It is a significant number. Of these, 62% travelled to/from Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro represented 26% [239,000], and Dar es Salaam only 12%.”

Final thoughts

Adding to KLM’s East African network, which includes long-served Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro, the Air France-KLM Group is aggressively expanding its foothold in the region.

“The market share of Ethiopian, EgyptAir, and Turkish Airlines between Europe and Tanzania will fall because of Air France’s entry. Helping Air France will be the fact that the majority of passengers going to Kilimanjaro will purchase open-jaw tickets combining that destination with either Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar.”

The source said he expects the Lufthansa Group, which will add ITA Airways to its portfolio in 2025, to expand in East Africa. “One can definitely expect ITA to grow its footprint in East Africa, even if it is winter seasonally.”