In coming passengers from abroad waiting at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) for taken to the isolation for 14 days for confirmed against corona virus effecting. PHOTO | FILBERT RWEYEMAMU Arusha. Saturday, February 15th this year, would have been a usual day for the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA).
Air traffic during weekends is often high, especially for local and regional flights, with people landing to enjoy the tourist sites in the zone.
But on that particular day, the recently refurbished airport was unusually hectic, with hundreds of foreign visitors arriving.
A fully-loaded Kenya Airways (KQ) jet had substituted PrecisionAir small planes for the busy Nairobi-KIA route for a 30 minute flight!
As about 200 disembarked from the Kenyan carrier other international carriers, Ethiopian and Qatar Airways, taxed in preparation for take off.
Air Tanzania was soon to land as scores of charter planes were in the vicinity; bringing in tourists who had been to the national parks.
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Inside the terminal building, the health, Immigration and Customs officials were apparently overwhelmed and struggled to handle the situation.
At that time, global concerns on the coronavirus (Covid-19) had picked up with deaths reported outside China and reported cases in North Africa.
The health officials had a challenging task on how to handle in-coming passengers with Covid-19 fears already rapidly gripping the world.
Their focus was mainly on those arriving from abroad. Every arriving passenger had to be subjected to the recommended health tests.The strict checks were enough indication of what all entry points into the country had to do in the wake of the pandemic.A month later (on March 16th), the second largest airport in the country was to come with the realities of the disease ravaging the world.A Parliamentary Committee team responsible for investments was visiting the facility and got detailed brief on how it can further contribute to the national economy.Until recently, the airport, located midway between Arusha and Moshi, had the capacity to handle 500,000 passengers a year.With further expansion and upgrading of its facilities and services for 39.1 million Euro, it can now handle 1.2 million domestic and international passengers.Given its strategic role in the multi-million dollar tourism industry for Tanzania, it is no wonder KIA is a destination of some world famous and regional carriers.These include Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM), arguably among the world’s best.The others are Kenya Airways, Condor Air, Flydubai, RwandAir, Air Uganda, Air […]