British Airways is returning to Tanzania next summer, adding Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar to its long-haul programme at London Gatwick.
The carrier confirmed the two destinations on 17 September 2026, with British Airways Tanzania flights due to begin on 29 May 2027 and run through the summer season until 31 October.
For UK employers with interests in East Africa, the change removes a connection. Reaching either airport from London has meant a change of aircraft at another carrier’s hub, adding hours and an extra point of failure to an already long day. A direct departure from Gatwick makes a Tanzania trip easier to fit into a working week, and easier to sign off under a travel policy that counts total journey time as well as fare.
When do British Airways Tanzania flights start?
The first departure is on 29 May 2027, with three services a week running until 31 October. Each rotation leaves London Gatwick and lands at Kilimanjaro before continuing to Zanzibar, so a single booking can cover both the mainland and the island. Return fares start at £849 including taxes, fees and a hand baggage allowance. British Airways has timed the season to cover UK school holidays and the peak safari months, which means the most sought-after dates are likely to sell through early and leave late bookers paying well above the lead-in fare.
Kilimanjaro Airport is the gateway to Tanzania’s Northern Safari Circuit, which takes in the Serengeti Wildlife Park and the Great Migration, the UNESCO World Heritage Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire National Park and its elephant herds, and Lake Manyara National Park. It is also the starting point for climbs of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, which spans five climate zones from rainforest and alpine desert to a snow-capped summit.
Zanzibar covers the other half of the proposition. The island offers the UNESCO-listed streets of Stone Town, spice plantations, diving and snorkelling on the coral reefs, and beachfront hotels on the Indian Ocean. For anyone already weighing up combining business travel with leisure days, the Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar flights make a weekend extension unusually easy to arrange on one ticket.
What the summer 2027 schedule changes elsewhere
Tanzania is one part of a broader network update. British Airways is lifting capacity to Latin America by 25 per cent: Buenos Aires moves to a daily non-stop service with an onward tag to Santiago, giving the only non-stop flights between London and the Argentine capital; Rio de Janeiro becomes a dedicated daily route without onward tags, raising seat numbers; and London Heathrow to San Jose in Costa Rica becomes a year-round operation at three flights a week.
Elsewhere, Heathrow to Cape Town rises from seven to 10 flights a week for summer, and Las Vegas from 13 to 14. Gatwick’s Barbados service, which launches this October, continues into summer 2027 with onward tags to Grenada, Guyana and Tobago, while St Lucia stays direct at four a week. The enhanced schedule begins at the end of March 2027, extending the pattern set by the airline’s major winter 2026 expansion.
Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Chief Planning and Strategy Officer, said the new services “strengthen our footprint in East Africa and open the door to some of the world’s most extraordinary travel experiences”, adding that increasing frequencies and extending seasonal services was “giving customers more choice and flexibility, while deepening London’s connectivity to key destinations around the world”.
Two other long-haul routes arrive sooner: Gatwick to Colombo in Sri Lanka on 23 October, and Heathrow to Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur on 9 January. Anyone booking British Airways Tanzania flights should check visa and vaccination rules on the Foreign Office’s Tanzania entry requirements before confirming dates, and our Gatwick airport guide covers terminals, lounges and rail links at the departure end.
Full route detail is in the British Airways media centre announcement.
