British Airways is going back to Tanzania. The Tanzania route was announced as part of the airline's summer 2027 schedule, giving UK travellers a direct service that pairs a safari with a beach stay on a single booking.

A triangle route for safari and beach

The flights run as a triangle: the aircraft leaves London Gatwick, lands first at Kilimanjaro International Airport, then continues on to Zanzibar. On the way home, the return leg flies non-stop from Zanzibar back to Gatwick without stopping in Kilimanjaro again.

It is the carrier's first scheduled service to Tanzania since it ended its Dar es Salaam flights in the early 2010s. Unlike the old service, which flew to the capital, the new route lands directly at the two gateways that matter most for safari and beach tourism. Kilimanjaro International Airport is the closest arrival point for Tanzania's Northern Safari Circuit, including the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire and Lake Manyara, plus climbs up Mount Kilimanjaro itself. Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean archipelago, is the country's best-known beach destination, with the UNESCO-listed streets of Stone Town, spice plantations, and diving and snorkelling around coral reefs.

What the new flights look like

The service starts on Saturday, May 29, 2027 and runs through October 31, 2027. It operates three times a week on a seasonal schedule. Outbound flights leave Gatwick on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 9:05am, touching down in Kilimanjaro at 8:20pm local time. The onward hop reaches Zanzibar at 10:25pm. Return flights depart Zanzibar just after midnight on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, landing back at Gatwick at 7:55am.

British Airways will use a Boeing 777 on the route. Trade reports say the aircraft will carry Club World, World Traveller Plus and World Traveller cabins, and that return fares start at £849, including taxes, fees and a hand baggage allowance. According to Aviation Week's rolling route update, the London Gatwick-Kilimanjaro-Zanzibar service was announced on September 18 as part of a batch of new network openings.

The Tanzania route is part of a wider summer 2027 expansion for the airline. As well as the two new Tanzanian destinations, BA is adding capacity across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Services between London Heathrow and Cape Town are due to increase from seven to ten flights a week. It has been a busy season for new route announcements, with carriers such as Icelandair opening its first Polish service, the African travel trade press reports.

Why the timing matters

The May-to-October window is no accident. It covers the UK school summer holidays and the autumn half term, and it sits in the middle of Tanzania's peak safari season, when wildlife viewing on the northern circuit is at its best. For travellers who plan big trips around school breaks, the dates remove one of the usual complications of getting to East Africa: connecting through a second hub.

The African Travel and Tourism Association (ATTA) welcomed the news. Virginia Messina, the association's group CEO, said the routes mark a real step change in connectivity to Tanzania, building on recent additions from Air Tanzania, Brussels Airlines and KLM that are opening the country up to European travellers. She added that for UK-based tour operators and agents, the extra capacity brings more choice and makes it easier to build new itineraries across Tanzania and neighbouring Kenya.

According to Reuters reporting on the announcement, the move restores a direct British Airways connection to Tanzania aimed squarely at safari and beach demand. Neil Chernoff, BA's chief planning and strategy officer, said the new services put Tanzania's best on display, from the plains of the Serengeti and the slopes of Kilimanjaro to the waters off Zanzibar, and strengthen the airline's presence in East Africa.

Planning a Tanzania trip around the new route

The routing suits a first East Africa trip. The outbound stops at Kilimanjaro, which sits a short drive from Arusha, the usual jumping-off point for northern-circuit safaris and Kilimanjaro climbs. The flight then continues to Zanzibar, so a safari-and-beach combination can happen on one ticket, with no need for a separate domestic flight.

British Airways Holidays is already packaging the route. A seven-night stay at the 5-star LUX* Marijani in Zanzibar is available from £1,499 per person, including return World Traveller flights from Gatwick, one 23kg checked bag and breakfast, for travel between June 1 and 30, 2027. Bookings for that package have to be made by September 25, 2026.

Prices and schedules on a seasonal route can shift before the first departure, which is still close to a year out, so it is worth checking the airline's own booking pages before locking in connecting travel. But for anyone who has had a Tanzania trip sitting on the list, May 2027 just got a lot more direct.