British Airways to launch two new routes to Tanzania in 2027

Both routes will be operated by a Boeing 777, with three cabins available:

• Club World (British Airways’ Business Class product)
• World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy)
• World Traveller (Economy)

The routing choice is interesting. The triangle path means Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar are both on a single service and don’t require separate connections, which makes combining the two easy. For anyone planning to fly to Zanzibar with Avios, you can now build a classic safari-and-beach trip around one BA service.

Why It Makes Sense to Book with Avios

Tanzania is exactly the kind of destination we’d suggest booking with Avios instead of paying cash for. Business Class fares to East Africa are rarely gentle on the bank balance, so a well-timed redemption has the potential to squeeze more value from your points. If you’ve been building an Avios balance patiently for a proper long-haul treat, you should have this route on the watchlist before seats even go on sale.

Our BA redemption finder should be your first step once bookings open, both for availability and Avios pricing. If you want to understand how to use Avios to fly to Tanzania in Business Class, search the London Gatwick to Kilimanjaro route first, since the onward leg to Zanzibar operates on the same flight number and ticket.

Cash prices still matter, though. Avios can save you a lot here, but “Business Class” doesn’t automatically mean “good use of points.” Run the numbers through our Avios points value calculator and make sure you’re getting decent value.

One more thing: check the aircraft before you book. The route is scheduled to use a Boeing 777, but don’t assume that automatically means you’ll get the British Airways Club Suite you have in mind. If Club Suite matters to you, use the Reward Flight Finder Club Suite filter and check what BA is operating on your date.

Kilimanjaro: The Safari Gateway

If your trip revolves around safari, flying into Kilimanjaro saves you from starting in the wrong corner of the country. It drops you straight into Tanzania’s Northern Safari Circuit, which means the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire National Park, and Lake Manyara are all within reach without having to build in another awkward domestic connection first.

The Serengeti gets most of the attention because of the Great Migration, but Ngorongoro Crater is just as hard to ignore. It’s UNESCO-listed, packed with wildlife, and one of the better places in Tanzania to try your luck with the Big Five, and a strong alternative to a South African safari.

Kilimanjaro Airport also works for anyone swapping a game drive for a much more serious challenge. It’s the main jumping-off point for Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, and a very different kind of trip to a classic South African itinerary. The climb takes you through five different climate zones, which is a very good way of reminding yourself just how high you’ve gone by the time you reach the snow-capped summit.

The timing of the new BA service is pretty smart, too. Flights run from late May through the end of October, so they cover peak safari season and the UK summer holidays.

Zanzibar: The Island Addition

Zanzibar is the obvious second act after safari, and BA’s triangular route makes the combination painless. The same service continues from Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar, so you can go from game drives to the Indian Ocean without building an entirely separate trip around it. That alone makes the route better than a simple new point-to-point flight.

Zanzibar has the beaches you’re picturing, but we wouldn’t spend the entire stay horizontal on one. The island’s UNESCO-listed historic quarter, Stone Town, deserves at least a day. Diving and snorkelling are also big draws, with coral reefs and warm Indian Ocean waters around the island.

If you’re wondering how to fly to Zanzibar with Avios, start by searching London Gatwick to Zanzibar in BA’s redemption finder. BA should price the journey through the triangular routing, so there’s no need to overcomplicate things.

If you want to use Avios for Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar as part of the same trip, we’d suggest searching it as a multi-city itinerary. The flights head out on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, with returns on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, so there’s enough of a pattern to build a proper safari-and-beach trip around.

How to Book with Avios

New routes can be a bit awkward for Avios collectors at first. Reward seats are often thin on the ground when bookings open, then improve once the schedule settles in. The best move is to set a Reward Flight Finder Alert as soon as the route goes on sale and let it do the checking for you. Once seats appear, run the numbers through the Avios points value calculator to see whether the redemption is better than paying cash.

BA Holidays has also already packaged the route with a seven-night stay at the 5-star LUX Marijani from £1,499 per person, based on Economy travel and including a 23kg checked bag, breakfast, and selected dates between 1 June and 30 June 2027. Packages must be booked by 25 September 2026.

The Wider Network Picture

The Tanzania launch is part of a bigger reshuffle of British Airways’ long-haul summer 2027 schedule. Speaking about the move, Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Chief Planning and Strategy Officer, said, “We’re excited to be launching flights to two exceptional new destinations that showcase the very best of Tanzania. From the vast plains of the Serengeti and the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro to the turquoise waters and white-sand beaches of Zanzibar, these new routes strengthen our footprint in East Africa and open the door to some of the world’s most extraordinary travel experiences.

“Alongside these new routes, we are strengthening our wider long-haul network, adding capacity to several popular destinations across Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean. By increasing frequencies and extending seasonal services, we’re giving customers more choice and flexibility, while deepening London’s connectivity to key destinations around the world.”

Buenos Aires will move to a daily nonstop service from Heathrow, with passengers able to continue on to Santiago, while Rio de Janeiro will get its own daily service, and San José in Costa Rica becomes a year-round route with three flights a week. Cape Town gets a boost to ten weekly flights over the summer, and Las Vegas picks up a 14th weekly frequency.

There are more new pins going onto BA’s long-haul map, too. London Gatwick to Colombo, Sri Lanka, launches on 23 October 2026, and London Heathrow to Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur begins on 9 January 2027.

More routes and more frequencies mean more places to aim your points at and more ways to book flights with Avios. The trick, as ever, is getting to the good seats before everyone else does.