Plans by Egypt Air to resume flights to Tanzania later in the year are reportedly on course. The Egyptian flag carrier will fly four times a week between Cairo and Dar es Salaam using one of their new B737-800 aircraft, seating 16 passengers in business class and up to 144 in economy class. Egypt Air is now reportedly in talks with their Tanzanian counterparts about code shared operations between Tanzania and Egypt, from where passengers can then connect into the global ‘Star Alliance’ network to which Egypt Air now belongs.

Egypt Air previously flew only once a week to Dar es Salaam but stopped the operation in 2004 when no suitable aircraft was available at the time to operate the route. The renewed flights are clearly aimed to capture connecting passengers and feeding them into onward flights from Cairo to Europe and the Middle East and Asia, a proven formula for other airlines carving out their niches across eastern Africa. A most obvious target would be the traffic base of Kenya Airways and Middle Eastern airlines flying to Tanzania.