Swahili Coast Airlines
22nd In A Series: A Fictional Airline of Tanzania
Swahili Coast Airlines (Swahili: Pwani ya Kiswahili Mashirika ya Ndege) is a Tanzanian airline operating as a public-private partnership, headquartered on the grounds of Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Tanzanian cities of Zanzibar-ZNZ and Dodoma-DOD also function as focus cities with some direct flights of their own.
Formerly a state-owned airline, Swahili Coast Airlines is now jointly held by the government of Tanzania and Swahili Coast Airlines Corporation (SCAC) (Shirika Ndege ya Pwani ya Kiswahili), with the government holding a 40% interest while SCAC manages the airline’s operations.
Established in 2015 after the collapse of its state-owned predecessor, Fly Tanzania Airways, Swahili Coast Airlines operates a mixed fleet of jet and propeller-driven aircraft providing regularly scheduled regional air service from Dar es Salaam-DAR to 19 cities within Tanzania and 11 international destinations within east central Africa.
History
1977: Tanzania Airways
Swahili Coast Airlines’ lineage can be traced back to Tanzania Airways, which was founded in 1977 following the breakup of East African Airways (EAA), a tri-national state-owned carrier set up in 1956 that was held jointly by the eastern African nations of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. East African Airways dissolved in early 1977 amid deteriorating relations among the three countries. The national government of Tanzania in turn established Tanzania Airways as its own successor to EAA.
Initially Tanzania Airways operated only propeller-driven aircraft, specifically a set of Fokker F27 Friendship turboprop airliners and a few de Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter utility airplanes. Later the same year, the airline added a pair of Douglas DC-9-30 jetliners to the mix, which provided international service to destinations around Africa.
In time, Tanzania Airways expanded its fleet to include a few longer range aircraft to service more far-flung destinations in Europe and the Middle East, but its core regional aircraft remained much the same for the rest of the 20th century until 1997, when the carrier added a trio of Bombardier CRJ200 regional jets to the fleet.
2001: Tanzania Airways Split - Fly Tanzania Formed
In early 2001, the government of Tanzania signed a 10-year management contract with Air Afrique, a major airline based in Senegal, allowing Air Afrique to oversee and manage the airline.
In turn Air Afrique reorganized Tanzania Airlines into two separate and distinct carriers:
Tanzania International, which would operate nearly all flights outside Tanzania, including routes to Europe, the Middle East and beyond; and
Fly Tanzania, which would operate domestic routes and a smattering international destinations within east central Africa.
Fly Tanzania received Tanzania Airlines’ entire prop fleet plus its CRJ200s and DC-9s, while Tanzania International assumed control over the company’s fleet of larger, Boeing-dominated airliners.
Starting in 2003, Air Afrique’s management began a fleet refreshment program. This first saw the Fokker F27s being replaced by newer Bombardier DHC-8 Q300 turboprops.
In 2005 a pair of Bombardier CRJ700s were added to the company fleet to provide additional service on routes such as Dar es Salaam-DAR «» Johannesburg-JNB, DAR «» Cape Town-CPT, and DAR «» Kinshasa-FIH.
2010s: Carrier Decline and Collapse
The management contract with Air Afrique expired in early 2011 after Air Afrique chose not to renew it, and Fly Tanzania reverted to state control.
During 2012 funding problems arose, forcing the airline to retire its aging DC-9s, and a few other aircraft were also scrapped or sold off to keep the company afloat. By 2014 both Fly Tanzania and Tanzania International found themselves in dire financial straits. At that point, the national government could only prop up one of the airlines; in the end the government chose to rescue Tanzania International, while Fly Tanzania was allowed to fold. Several of its aircraft were seized by creditors, while others were sold off to a pair of indigenous companies who tried to continue providing domestic air service.
Restart As Public-Private Partnership
About one year after Fly Tanzania collapsed, the Tanzanian government began to look at ways to restart the former domestic carrier. Interest was generally lukewarm until one of the two remaining privately owned domestic carriers, Air Dodoma, managed to partner with a group of investors including pair of Tanzanian mining magnates to form Swahili Coast Airlines Corporation (SCAC) (Shirika Ndege ya Pwani ya Kiswahili).
After extended negotiations, the government and SCAC agreed to form a new carrier, Swahili Coast Airlines, that would be 40% owned by the government and 60% by SCAC and would lease its aircraft to save on costs. A lease agreement was soon signed with JetStream Aerospace, and the lessor was able to quickly stand up a fleet of Bombardier CRJ700s, ATR 42 turboprops, and Cessna 208B Grand Caravans for Swahili Coast to use.
Swahili Coast Airlines started operations on 7 May 2015 with initial international air service between Dar es Salaam-DAR «» Mombasa-MBA and domestic flights between DAR «» Zanzibar-ZNZ, DAR «» Dodoma-DOD, and DAR «» Lindi-LDI. Service to Mwanza-MWZ, Kilimanjaro-JRO and Arusha-ARK was added soon thereafter. While Dar es Salaam-DAR has remained the airline’s central hub, there are some direct flights connecting Zanzibar-ZNZ and Dodoma-DOD (Tanzania’s capital city) to some destinations around Tanzania and internationally.
Within a couple of years Swahili Coast had essentially rebuilt Fly Tanzania’s former domestic network and was branching out to further international destinations to surrounding countries, including to Kenya, Mozambique, Seychelles, Comoros and to French-controlled Mayotte-DZA.
2020: Switch To Aria Aircraft
As with many airlines worldwide, the Covid19 pandemic impacted Swahili Coast Airlines and forced the airline to curtail its international routes significantly. Swahili Coast used this down-time to conduct a comprehensive review of its fleet management position, with an eye towards replacing some of its aircraft. After careful review, the carrier decided to adopt aircraft from the new American aircraft company, Aria Aircraft, and signed a major lease agreement with JetStream Aerospace to handle the transition to a more modern fleet.
As a result, Swahili Coast received a set of Aria T42 Transonic jetliners to replace the Bombardier CRJ700s; a set of Aria V42 VTOL turboprops with which to begin replacing the ATR 42s, as well as a pair of Aria V42qc Quick Change Combi VTOL aircraft; and a set of Aria V12 VTOL aircraft to expedite the retirement of the company’s Cessna 208 Grand Caravans.
As of late 2024, the fleet conversion has been nearly completed, with the last of the company’s CRJ700s and ATR 42s set to depart the fleet in early 2025.
Today And The Future
With the Covid19 epidemic seemingly fading away, Swahili Coast Airlines has resumed expansion of its network.
The company is set to receive the first of several Aria T72 Transonic jetliners, which are set to arrive in early 2025 and will be used to connect Dar es Salaam-DAR and Zanzibar-ZNZ with several international destinations, while further Aria T42 Transonic jets will be assigned to thinner international routes as well as busier domestic corridors.
Service is soon expected to add or resume service to Addis Ababa-ADD, Bujumbura-BJM (Burundi), Cape Town-CPT and Johannesburg-JNB in South Africa,, Goma-GOM and Kinshasa-FIH in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kampala-EBB (Uganda) and Kigali-KGL (Rwanda), among other destinations.
Destinations
Current Destinations
Following is a list of destinations that are currently served by Swahili Coast Airlines. All destinations are located in Tanzania unless otherwise noted.
Arusha-ARK
Beira-BEW, Mozambique
Bukoba-BKZ
Dar es Salaam-DAR - HQ and Hub [Map Link ]
Dodoma-DOD
Dzaoudzi-DZA, Mayotte (France)
Iringa-IRI
Kigoma-TKQ
Kilimanjaro-JRO
Lamu-LAU, Kenya
Lindi-LDI
Mafia-MFA
Mahe-SEZ, Seychelles
Malindi-MYD, Kenya
Mbeya-MBI
Mombasa-MBA, Kenya
Moroni-HAH, Comoros
Mtwara-MYW
Musoma-MUZ
Mwanza-MWZ
Nacala-MNC, Mozambique
Nairobi-NBO, Kenya
Pemba-PMA
Port Louis-MRU, Mauritius
Quelimane-UEL, Mozambique
Seronera-SEU
Songea-SGX
Tabora-TBO
Tanga-TGT
Zanzibar-ZNZ
Former Destinations
Following is a list of destinations that were previously served by Swahili Coast Airlines. All destinations are located in Tanzania unless otherwise noted.
Addis Ababa-ADD, Ethiopia
Bujumbura-BJM, Burundi
Cape Town-CPT, South Africa
Goma-GOM, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Johannesburg-JNB, South Africa
Kampala-EBB, Uganda
Kinshasa-FIH, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kigali-KGL, Rwanda
Lilongwe-LLW, Malawi
Lusaka-LUN, Zambia
Maputo-MPW, Mozambique
Mogadishu-MGQ, Somalia
Fleet
Current Fleet
Following is a list of aircraft types currently used by Swahili Coast Airlines.
† = JStream original aircraft
Aria T42 Transonic - 2023-Present †
Aria V12 VTOL - 2024-Present †
Aria V42 VTOL - 2023-Present †
Aria V42 VTOL QC Combi - 2024-Present †
ATR 42-600 - 2015-Present - Leaving 2025
Bombardier CRJ700 - 2015-Present - Leaving 2025
Former Fleet
Following is a list of aircraft types formerly used by Swahili Coast Airlines, listed in chronological order.
† = JStream original aircraft
Douglas DC-9-30 - 1977-2012
Fokker F27 Friendship - 1977-2014 †
de Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter - 1980-2014 †
Bombardier CRJ200 - 1997-2014
Bombardier Dash 8 Q300 - 2003-2014
Cessna 208B Grand Caravan - 2015-2024
Future Fleet
Swahili Coast Airlines has placed firm orders to acquire the following aircraft in the near future.
† = JStream original aircraft
Aria T72 Transonic - Expected Early 2025 †
=Nota Bene=
Swahili Coast Airlines isn’t based on any real world airline that I know of. The personalities depicted are all randomly generated.
I created Swahili Coast as a simple thought exercise: What if a private airline could readily fly to destinations along the coast of eastern Africa in a manner similar to how airlines can fly wherever they want within the European Union?
I chose the name Swahili Coast because the term traditionally applies to the part of coastal Africa running from Somalia south into Mozambique, as well as some neighboring islands like Zanzibar and the Comoros. It also sounded like a great airline name.
I ultimately based Swahili Coast Airlines in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania because the city is a major financial hub in the region. Also - to my surprise - I found out that Dar Es Salaam had a larger population than Nairobi in neighboring Kenya. I decided that Swahili Coast Airlines should be a regional carrier serving Tanzania mainly because that’s where it is based, plus the islands, coastal cities and towns of a few nearby countries.
East African Airways was a real life airline 1946-1977. It was jointly run by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, but was then dissolved in 1977 due to deteriorating relations among these 3 nations. In real life EAA was split into 3 national carriers in 1976-1977, namely: Kenya Airways, Uganda Airlines and Air Tanzania. All three still exist, although reorganization efforts were required in some cases.
In following my belief to leave existing carriers untouched in my storytelling, I created Tanzania Airways instead, whose own story differs somewhat from the story of Air Tanzania.I decided to have Tanzania Airways split into Fly Tanzania (mostly domestic) and Tanzania International (longer range flights) for simplicity TBH. I didn’t want the future Swahili Coast Airlines becoming big like the real life Ethiopian Airlines for example.
To my knowledge there is/was no such carrier as Air Dodoma. I simply used it as a means to help the government restart a domestic-focused carrier, and since Dodoma is the 2nd largest city in Tanzania I decided to use its name.
I might draw up an article later about Tanzania International at some point, as well as a fictional version of EAA using some vintage aircraft templates. I envision TI to be a bigger carrier hitting all of Africa plus Europe and the Middle East at least, maybe even further. It would probably still be a state owned flagship airline, with a codeshare agreement in place with Swahili Coast serving as TI’s Last Mile/Kilometer regional partner, ferrying passengers and cargo from the TI hub at Dar Es Salaam-DAR to their final regional airport.
I imagine Kenya and Uganda would maybe consider taking part in this “East African Union” experiment using their own respective regional and international carriers as well. Developing them will have to wait until later, however, as there are already plenty of other stories yet to share around Africa in general… like the story of Air Afrique! Which itself existed IRL 1961-2002 and has an interesting story of its own waiting to be remixed.The Aria aircraft mentioned in this article are (of course) fictional aircraft. I don’t feature Aria aircraft in every article I write up, but for Swahili Coast Airlines I thought the Aria T42/T72 series and V12/V42 series would actually be a good fit for the region - especially the V series, which are vTOL aircraft that could operate well from Tanzania’s smaller and more remote airfields. So I added them in, as latter day fleet additions.
I drew up the Fokker F27 Friendship aircraft template in late September 2024 expressly so it could be included with this article.
All liveries depicted in this article were conceived and drawn by the Author.
All Aria aircraft templates displayed in this article are fictional aircraft, whose original templates were drawn by the Author.
The de Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter and Fokker F27 Friendship aircraft templates are original, in-house made content created by the Author.
All other aircraft templates shown in this article are licensed from Norebbo and augmented by the Author for display. Blank side view templates of these aircraft are available for purchase through ShopNorebbo.
Route Maps were created using Great Circle Map.