More airlines licensed to land at JNIA

Julius Nyerere International Airport has attracted a number of airlines. Five of them were licensed to land at the airport and one increased its frequency in 2014. PHOTOS | FILE 

By Veneranda Sumila, BusinessWeek Reporter

In Summary

They are Fly Dubai, Air Seychelles, Proflight, EWA and Malawian Airlines, JNIA director Moses Malaki told BusinessWeek. The Emirates increased its frequency of flights to JNIA.

Dar es Salaam. Five airlines were licensed to land at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in 2014.

They are Fly Dubai, Air Seychelles, Proflight, EWA and Malawian Airlines, JNIA director Moses Malaki told BusinessWeek. The Emirates increased its frequency of flights to JNIA.

Moreover, KLM started direct flights from Amsterdam to JNIA in December 2014. All these are big achievements to the airport as the number of passengers increased.

“Many airlines have shown interest of flying to JNIA. Among them is Etihad Airways which has confirmed to start its operations in December, 2015,” according to Mr Malaki.

The airport handles 24 airlines. Three of them are domestic and the rest international.

Fourteen companies operate charter flights and general operations. The number of charter flights has been increasing due to increased tourism and business activities.

However, he said despite the success the airport faced numerous challenges in 2014 mainly emanating from increased passengers.

“JNIA faces a space problem, old age and the shortage of other passenger facilities such as air conditioners, baggage conveyor belts, aero bridges, chairs and standby generators,” said Mr Malaki.

Recently Travellers’ website sleepinginairports.net named JNIA among the worst airports in Africa.

According to sleepinginairports.net’s 2014 Best Airports in Africa survey, JNIA is the fourth worst airport on the continent.

Commenting on the rankings Mr Malaki recently acknowledged that the airport was overwhelmed by passengers.

He said the airport’s designed capacity was to handle only 1.2 million passengers annually but currently it was handling more than 2.5 million passengers.