Air Tanzania to return to China
Air Tanzania inaugurated its service to Guangzhou in China in May 2021 after two initial postponements. Restrictions due to the Covid 19 pandemic led to the suspension of this route. The implementation of a number of health measures by Dar Es Salaam was one of the conditions required by Beijing for the restoration of the route.
Air Tanzania (ATCL) is expected to resume flights to China soon. The Tanzanian flag bearer received on Tuesday 21 June 2022, the visit of the Director General of African Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wu Peng, and the Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, Chen Mingjian, with a view to ensuring the resumption of the air link between Tanzania and China as soon as possible.
"This visit comes after the government has worked tirelessly to ensure that Tanzania complies with Chinese Covid protocols by installing a machine that has the capacity to perform PCR and antigenic tests," says ATCL. According to its acting managing director, Albinus Manumbu, quoted by The Citizen, the resumed flight is expected to carry Chinese dignitaries and diplomats, and further supply will depend on market demand.
"We are confident that demand will gradually recover, and quickly expand our trade relations," the Chinese foreign ministry's director general of African affairs reassured. "We believe this will contribute to the development of Air Tanzania and the post-Covid recovery of the Tanzanian economy," Peng added.
He also revealed that Tanzania is about to open a consulate in Shanghai (after the one opened in Guangzhou), in a bid to increase bilateral trade between the two countries. The trade between the two countries has increased by 47% in 2021 (in 2019, Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in Tanzania reached USD 115 million).
