Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) is an international airport serving the Kilimanjaro National Park in Tanzania, as well as nearby cities like Arusha and Moshi. The airport handled 1,044,276 passengers in 2024, making it the third busiest airport in the country, after Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam and Abeid Amani Karume International Airport in Zanzibar. It is the largest airport in northern Tanzania by size and passenger volume.

Overview

thumb|The passenger boarding gate area

Many international visitors also go to national parks in Tanzania, to the Indian Ocean coast, to islands such as Zanzibar, and to Lake Victoria, reflected in the routes of connecting flights. With a runway almost long, the airport can handle aircraft as large as Boeing 747s and Antonov 124s. The airport served 802,731 passengers in 2014, of whom 45 percent were international, 38 percent domestic, and 17 percent transit. In November 2015, renovations began at the airport, aimed at doubling its capacity from 600,000 passengers to 1.2 million annually. The renovation work was being done by BAM International, a subsidiary of the Royal BAM Group in the Netherlands, at a cost of US$39.7 million, and was expected to be completed in May 2017.

History

Kilimanjaro Airport cost US$13 million to build. It opened on 2 December 1971, with construction financed by a long-term loan from the Italian government.

In 1998, it became the first international airport in Africa to be privatised. It is operated by the Kilimanjaro Airport Development Company.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines maintain regular, scheduled passenger and cargo service to and from Kilimanjaro International Airport.

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Accidents and incidents

On 18 December 2013, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 (ET-AQW) flying from Addis Ababa to Kilimanjaro International Airport (runway length 11,811 feet) mistakenly landed at Arusha Municipal Field (runway length 6,102 feet), overrunning the end of the runway

References

  • Official website