Zanzibar Town Flights

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Zanzibar airport is located only 15 minutes drive from Stonetown. It's an airport with a very small terminal building. The check-in queue started actually outside in the street, and the counter was just inside the pavement. It was raining the day I left, and I was standing in the queue across the street and became wet.

The runway is just big enough to handle some large airplanes. I took Condor, a B767 to Frankfurt. Air Italy, Gulf Air, Ethiopian Airlines, KLM and Kenya Airways are some other airlines.

Note that you have to pay 30 USD in terminal fee (October 2008). And you have to do this even if you have paid the airport tax in your airticket. This is an irregular fee claimed by the Zanzibar airport. I'm sorry to write this. For the Tanzanian people the passengers are just tourists with too much money.

Even at the security scan, the officers asked for a tip. I have never seen a behaviour like this at any airport. And the stupid charter tourists paid. The old german woman in front of me paid 10000 Tanzanian shilling to the man who checked her luggage. That is almost 10 USD the security officer could put in his own pocket.

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PRECISION AIR is a small well-run airline based in Tanzania. Unlike many airlines that fly you about 6 miles above the earth, Precision air has a fleet of smaller planes allowing you to see the real beauty of Eastern Africa. Their fleet consists of ATR 42’s, an ATR-72 and LET – 410’s. While most travellers to Tanzania see just clouds, you can see the plains of Kenya and the awe-inspiring sight of Mount Kilimanjaro. Always ask the staff which is the best side to sit on for their flight. I flew on the right hand side from Nairobi to Zanzibar and had a first class seat to view Mount Kilimanjaro. Staff are friendly and genuinely seem to be happy to see you aboard. This airline is a partner of Kenya Airways, so you can combine their flights with your adventures.

A taxi from the Airport to Stone Town should only be about $7-8. You have to haggle.

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Air Tanzania calls itself ‘The wings of Kilimanjaro’ and they have some excellent prices within Tanzania. Their international flight prices are not as economical. You might want to consider flying as a quicker transport option at these prices

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We flew directly from Johannesburg to Zanzibar with SAA on the Tuesday morning. The flight left JHB at 8h20 so we arrived in zanzibar at approx 12h30. We bought our visa's upon arrival for US$50. Some people on our flight bought their visa's in SA, but they were not recognised when we arrived so they had to pay again! We departed again at 14h20 on the Sunday. Please be aware that there is not much at the airport. You basically stand in the street to book in your luggage. And you have to pay a departure tax of US$25 in cash.

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There are a handful airlines operating in the region. 'Zan air' is among the better known ones.

We took a small 5 seater flight (Cessna?) on our trip from Unguja (Zanzibar island) to Pemba. The flight lasts an hour, flying fairly low over some fairly spectacular scenery (the low altitude makes it a bit bumpy too sometimes). Its a daily flight- leaves in the morning, returns in the evening.

There are several flights everyday to Zanzibar Town from Dar es Salaam, Mombasa and Arusha and maybe more towns.

We came from Arusha with Precisionair. We decided to fly, to have more time at Zanzibar at the end of our overland trip. We booked the flight two days ahead and had a lot of choice in airlines and flighttimes.

From the office of Precisionair in the centre of Arusha we had a free shuttlebus to the airport 8 KM outside of town, departing exactly in the right minute. Also the pleasant flight -with a marvellous view at the Klimanjaro- was exactly in time. The flight time was one hour.

You can easily find somebody with a boat willing to take you somewhere.

Zanzibar number plates are still easy to decode - the lower the number on the plate, the nearer the car is to the first ever on the island. Lowest we got to was around the 2,500 mark. This mini was definitely the most decrepit, though!!!