National carrier Qatar Airways has launched its second new destination of the year, touching down in the Spice Island of Zanzibar.

Zanzibar is the airline’s third route in Tanzania, following Dar-es-Salaam and Kilimanjaro.

Qatar Airways will initially operate five weekly flights to Zanzibar via Kilimanjaro, and commencing October 1, the airline will offer an additional two weekly flights making it a daily operation.

Out of the daily flights from October, passengers will be able to fly non-stop to Zanzibar three-times-a-week and on a linked flight via Kilimanjaro four-times-a-week.

Qatar Airways chief commercial officer Marwan Koleilat, who was on the inaugural flight, said: “This latest route marks yet another significant milestone for the airline that has spread its international wings to its 20th gateway in Africa and 148th destination globally.

“Zanzibar’s attraction as a tourist destination has been steadily growing as more travellers discover its wonderful combination of cultures, and Qatar Airways is delighted to be able to give more people the opportunity to visit this beautiful island with all it has to offer,” he said.

Honourable Juma Duni Haji, Zanzibar’s minister of Infrastructure and Communication said: “It is with pleasure and extreme pride that we welcome Qatar Airways to Zanzibar. We are delighted this global airline has chosen Zanzibar as its newest destination in Africa and we look forward to working together with the Qatar Airways team to bring further investment, trade and tourism to our island.”

Qatar Airways is operating an Airbus A320 in a two-class configuration on the Zanzibar-Doha route, with 12 seats in Business Class and up to 132 seats in Economy. Each seat on selected flights offers an interactive audio and video entertainment system featuring up to 1,000 options of movies, TV programmes and music channels.

In addition, passengers can remain connected with friends, colleagues and family on the ground with an SMS text messaging service using their mobile devices.

Qatar Airways’ African portfolio of destinations covers a rich and diverse group of cities that also includes Nairobi, Entebbe, Kigali, Lagos, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Addis Ababa, Alexandria, Algiers, Asmara, Cairo, Casablanca, Djibouti, Khartoum and Luxor. – TradeArabia News Service