Hello All!
Wondering if anybody had any information regarding domestic tanzanian airline reliability. I plan to fly from Zanzibar to Arusha.
The cheapest flights I have found are through:
Regional Air
Barent's Airlink
My tour operator said that these are not that reliable (change their time tables) and recommended Zan Air which is significantly more.
Please advise if you have had personal experience with above airlines or any other local airline.
Thanks!
Have you looked at Fastjet?
I've not flown with them, but they seem to be OK, I met several people who had taken flights with them when I was in Tanzania early last year.
I got Fast jet from Dar to Zanzibar once, and it was ok! Also Precision Air has several internal flights
If you have fixed dates for activities in Arusha then your choices are limited to Fasjet and Prceision - they fly every day (two or three times a day in the case of Precision) and they are far more reliable, but yes not the cheapest. You could also check out Coastal Air - they used to operate Zanzibar top Arusha (the airport just west of the City - not KIA). Good luck.
I used FastJet multiple times. Prices increase as tickets are sold, so I would buy sooner rather then later. It's a budget airlines, very similar to Ryan Air. I would recommend checking them out. They go to the bigger towns and cities, they should go from Zanzibar to Arusha.
Coastal is good, but pricier. Very professional and have been a long time.
I took Auric Air once and also had a positive experience and would use them again.
I flew Zanzibar with Precision $149 in November to Killi with easy connection in Dar and they have a shuttle to Arusha and Moshi about one hour for 10,000 S $5 that meets their flights.
Fastjet also have flights and prices that vary by the day you fly and when you book
I flew Coastal Air to Zanzibar from Dar es Salaam in February, and they were great. On time, picked me up from the main Dar international airport (its a few km's away to the smaller airfield Coastal Air uses for internal flights) and they allowed me to store some stuff in their store room so I didn't have to take it to the island with me. Not the cheapest option, but I would travel them again!
Update:
I ended up flying with Auric Air which was a little messy but ended up okay. Basically what happened is my flight was supposed to leave at 350. I called that morning to confirm (I read timetables were an issue) and they said the flight actually left at 230, then called back at said 430... neither of which were what my online ticket reservation states. I decided to show up at 1 and found out that I was not on my flight manifest. The planes are super small (6-12 ppl). Auric air ended up getting me on an Regional Air plan about 1.5 hours later. It was not the end of the world but I don't know if I can recommend Auric Air if you want a reliable airline although all the regional airlines appeared to not have a strict time table on leaving.
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