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Apparently, you’re either a mountain or a beach person: more suited to the isolation of being thousands of feet above ground or to the laid-back coastal lifestyle. But what if you can’t choose between the two? Well, with a new British Airways route, you may not need to. And, you can tag a safari on, too.
The airline has announced that next spring it will run direct flights to Tanzania for the first time in 15 years. BA will start flying from London Gatwick to Tanzania from May 2027, dropping passengers off at Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar.
Kilimanjaro International Airport gives you access to the Northern Safari Circuit, which includes the Serengeti National Park and is where visitors can witness the incredible Great Migration. Of course, it also sits in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro (the ‘Roof of Africa’) so is the perfect destination for those looking to take on the continent’s highest peak.
Zanzibar, on the other hand, is an idyllic island region just off the coast of Tanzania, famed for its UNESCO-listed city Stone Town, its beach resorts, its spice plantations and the abundance of marine life in its turquoise waters.
BA’s new service will be a triangle route, going from Gatwick to Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar and Zanzibar back to London. It’ll do the first two parts of that route on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays and the return journey on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. There is no return journey from Kilimanjaro, so it seems you’ll have to go on to Zanzibar anyway in order to catch a flight back to the UK.
Gatwick to Kilimanjaro will take roughly nine hours and 15 minutes. If you want to go all the way to Zanzibar, you’ll be on the ground at Kilimanjaro for an hour, then go on to the island. The total journey will be 13 hours and 20 minutes.
As for how much you’ll pay, BA says that its round trips to Tanzania will start from £849, which includes taxes, fees and what it claims is a ‘generous hand baggage allowance’.
The route will take off from May 29, 2027 and continue until October 31. That’s two months ahead of Air Tanzania, which recently announced that it will be launching in the UK with direct flights from Gatwick to Kilimanjaro International Airport. Those flights are expected in July 2027, and the airline hopes to introduce routes to Zanzibar shortly after.
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