Air Tanzania will soon resume services to India with direct flights to Mumbai from Tanzanian city Dar Es Salaam...

Air Tanzania will soon resume services to India with direct flights to Mumbai from Tanzanian city Dar Es Salaam, an official said Monday. Air India and Air Tanzania had direct flights between the two countries but the operations were stopped in mid-1990s due to commercial reasons. "Air Tanzania has recently received permission to operate into India from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)," Zanzibar Tourism Promotion Centre (Mumbai) Jilesh Babla told PTI here. The DGCA is India's aviation regulator.

Air Tanzania has recently received permission to operate into India

He aid the African carrier would operate four direct flights per week to Mumbai from Dar Es Salaam with a Boeing 787 aircraft. Talking to PTI on the sidelines of the first convention of the Global Tourism Council that began here Sunday, Babla said that due to commercial reasons, direct flights were stopped by Air India and Air Tanzania. Zanzibar Tourism Promotion Centre also promotes Tanzanian tourism. New Delhi-based Bird Group has been appointed as the general sales agent for the airline.

Boeing 787 aircraft

Stating that both Tanzania and Zanzibar Island offer huge potential to Indian tourists, Babla said an equally big potential lies for the Tanzanian tourists into India. "Besides the world's wildlife capital Serengeti, Tanzania has Mount Kilimanjaro as well as the exotic Zanzibar Island among the tourist hot spots, " he said. According to him,the number of pre-departure visas to Tanzania from India stood at 39,000 last year. The Global Tourism Council -- set up by Travel Agents Association of India's former president Iqbal Mulla along with other airline and travel industry experts -- works to facilitate dialogue between the trade and tourism players of various countries.