Air Tanzania suspends scheduled flights to South Africa
What you need to know:
No other airline has announced cancellation of flights to South Africa in the wake of the recent Xenophobic attacks aimed at foreigners and their businesses .
One day after Tanzania secured its aircraft –the Airbus A220-300 which was seized in South Africa, Works Transport and Communication minister Isack Kamwelwe has announced a temporary suspension of ATCL scheduled flights to South Africa due to xenophobic violence.
The suspension makes Tanzania's national carrier the first airline to cancel flights to South Africa in the wake of escalating violence targeting foreigners and their businesses.
According to the Minister Air Tanzania was scheduled to fly to South Africa tomorrow Friday but it will not until the South African authorities commits to assure them of both the safety of the equipment and passengers.
“We have temporarily suspended flights until when calm is restored because we wouldn’t want to fly passengers to a destination with chaos,” said Kamwelwe who was addressing a gathering at Julius Nyerere International Airport.
In the meantime the Airbus 220-300 will continue plying domestic routes such as Mwanza, Songwe and Dodoma as per the timetable.
He further reiterated that the suspension has nothing to do with the recent seizure of the aircraft something that he says is now in the past.
