RwandAir flies to Dar es Salaam; fills the gap left by Kenyan carriers

September 05, 2020: RwandAir will operate three weekly flights to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania via Kigali. Even the carrier will resume services to Accra, Ghana with 2 weekly flights starting September 14, 2020.

“Dar es Salaam? Kilimanjaro? Nairobi? No problem, we will get you there,” the airline posted on Twitter.

The Kigali-based carrier will fill the vacuum left by four of Kenya’s airlines Kenya Airways, AirKenya Express, Fly540, and Safarilink Aviation barred from flying to Tanzania. The news follows just days after Tanzanian-based Precision Air suspended flights to Nairobi, just days after announcing the resumption of its services.

In August, Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) said Kenya Airways flights were being banned "on a reciprocal basis" after the Kenyan government decided against including Tanzania in a list of countries whose passengers would be allowed to enter Kenya when commercial flights resumed following the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.

The spat between both the countries erupted soon after the outbreak of the pandemic in East Africa, when Kenya blocked Tanzanian truck drivers from entering the country, fearing they would spread the disease.

Before the ban, Kenya Airways used to fly from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport 14 times to Dar es Salaam every week, three times to Kilimanjaro and two times to Zanzibar.