Air Tanzania (TC, Dar-es-Salaam) has taken delivery of its first A220-300 following the handing over of 5H-TCH (msn 55047) on Friday, December 21. According to the state-owned carrier, it will be followed later this month by sistership msn 55048.
Collectively, the two narrowbody jets will be used to operate trunk domestic routes from Dar-es-Salaam to Mwanza, Kilimanjaro, and Mbeya initially. Thereafter, they will be used to resume regional services to Lusaka, Harare Int'l, and Johannesburg O.R. Tambo.
Air Tanzania also operates one Dash 8-300 (stored), three Dash 8-400s, and one B787-8 on domestic Tanzanian flights as well as flights to Moroni Int'l, Entebbe/Kampala, and Bujumbura internationally.
The airline's Distribution and Sales Manager, Edward Nkwabi, told The Citizen newspaper last month that the B787-8 will start flying to Guangzhou in China via Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Thailand in February next year. Since its delivery in June, the widebody jet has been restricted to shorthaul flights leading to overcapacity in the market. The aircraft's deployment was one of the factors Fastjet Group cited for its withdrawal from its former subsidiary, Fastjet (FN, Dar-es-Salaam).