Why KIA is the airport to watch in East Africa

Dar es Salaam. Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) may not be the busiest airport in Tanzania, but passenger traffic figures for the year 2022 put it on the list of airports to watch in East Africa.

Going by latest Tanzania Airports Authority (TAA) data, KIA recorded the highest growth in the number of passengers handled in Tanzania.

Regionally, the airport, which recorded a 64.02 percent increase in 2022 compared to the preceding year, is in third place.

It was placed behind Entebbe International Airport of Uganda and Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), which recorded increases of 66.02 and 65.24 percent, respectively.

During the period under review, the number of passengers who passed through KIA jumped from 503,000 to 825,000.

Tanzania Air Operators Association (Taoa) executive secretary Lathifa Sykes said the numbers show that the focus of the country’s tourist attraction efforts is on the Northern tourism circuit, thus KIA surpassing Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA).

According to TAA, JNIA recorded a 54.19 percent increase in passenger numbers, just one place below KIA.

However, JNIA, whose number of travellers climbed from 1.55 million to 2.39 million, remains the busiest airport in Tanzania and second in the region after JKIA.

Ms Sykes said she was confident that Tanzania had the potential to do better and compete with neighbouring airports.

She told The Citizen that Tanzania has great attractions in the Southern part of the country that need to be properly promoted and incentivised to attract more tourists.

“The possibilities are there. We just need to put our heads together and strategise,” Ms Sykes said.

“We need to reduce costs if we are to bring more tourists to the attractions in Tanzania’s Southern tourism circuit.”

Globally, the aviation industry is rebounding from the Covid-19 pandemic more rapidly than expected.

An aviation expert, Mr John Njawa, attributed the impressive performance of the aviation industry in the region to relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions.

“People were tired of staying indoors. That is why after relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions more people wanted to fly and refresh,” Mr Njawa told The Citizen by telephone yesterday.

He said for Tanzania to do better in attracting more travellers, it needed to continue improving the business environment to attract investors and tourists.

“We are on the right trajectory. What we need to do now is to be quick in making decisions that affect investment and tourism in the country,” Mr Njawa said.

His sentiments were echoed by another aviation expert, Mr Juma Fimbo.

“So far so good. Let’s step up our efforts to attract foreign investors and tourists,” he told this paper yesterday.

He said Tanzania’s airports were surpassed by Entebbe and JKIA due to the past negative perception that was created towards the climate for investment in the country.

Going by the general rule, it takes only seconds to tarnish a credibility, but it takes time to restore it.

“It will take time for the government’s efforts in attracting investors to pay off in full swing. But so far, so good,” said Mr Fimbo. In 2022, the number of passengers who used the Entebbe Airport stood at 1.71 million, higher than 1.03 million recorded in the preceding year.

JKIA for its part saw its passenger traffic climb from 3.97 million to 6.56 million.

Kigali International Airport on the other side saw an increase of 45.05 percent to 718,000 passengers.

Bujumbura International Airport posted an increase of 41.57 percent to 235,000.

Abeid Amani Karume International Airport (AAKIA) in Zanzibar was at the bottom of the list with figures showing a 40.48 percent growth.

The number of passengers who used the airport flew from 1.26 million to 1.77 million.

A good news about AAKIA is that despite tailing the list in terms of passenger traffic growth, the Island-based airport is still the third busiest airport in the region, after JKIA and JNIA.

Bigger picture

The year 2022 ended on a high note for the aviation sector in Tanzania as passenger traffic and cargo surpassed the pre-Covid levels.

Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) data show that passengers carried by airlines last year increased by almost two percent to hit 5.723 million while cargo that was handled during the period surpassed the pre-pandemic levels by 32 percent to reach 35,130.83 tons.

On the global scale, air passenger numbers are expected to recover in 2024, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

IATA expects overall traveller numbers to reach 4 billion in 2024 (counting multi-sector connecting trips as one passenger), exceeding pre-Covid-19 levels (103 percent of the 2019 total).