Africa-Press – Tanzania. SOUTH Africa based AfricaStay Air carrier has launched direct scheduled flight from Johannesburg to Zanzibar on Sundays.
In the schedule, Airbus A320 aircraft landed at the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (AAKIA) at around 14hrs local time with 170 tourists on board.
Director of AfricaStay Mr Marian Sandu said at the welcoming reception at the Zanzibar airport that the airline will be operated once a week on Sundays.
“However, more good news is, from early December, it will add to three more flights on weekly basis that is on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Mr Sandu said.
The charter is operated by Global Aviation Operations, and Mr Sandu said the target is to transport 30,000 travelers, mainly tourists, from South Africa to Zanzibar by next year. The company strategized that after realizing that many tourists are willing to visit Zanzibar, especially for holiday purposes.
At the flight welcoming reception Ministers – Lela Mohamed Mussa (Tourisms and Heritage), and Ms Rahma Kassim Ali (Infrastructure, Communications and Transport), became special guests along with the new Tourism Commission Director Dr Mohamed Juma Abdalla, expressing their happiness about the new flight to Zanzibar.
“Covid-19 remains a big threat, but the government, with support from development partners, is working hard to make Zanzibar a better place free of the virus. We welcome more tourists and the target is to have 550,000 tourists by next year. Already we are almost halfway,” Ms Lela Mussa said.
However, she reminded members of the Zanzibar community to adhere to Covid-19 health experts’ regulations including becoming vaccinated and keeping the environment clean in order to keep the disease at bay, adding that maintaining peace and stability in the Islands should also form part of their responsibility.
