Kilimanjaro International Airport
Kilimanjaro international airport is an internationally recognized airport with the code of ‘JRO’. It covers an area of 110 sq. Km (almost 894m) which is located on the northern part of Tanzania, between two regions which are Arusha and Kilimanjaro (Moshi). Kilimanjaro international airport links Tanzania and specifically the northern part of Tanzania to the external world. Kilimanjaro international airport is strategically located midway between Arusha and Kilimanjaro. The two regions are worth mentioning when speaking of the tourism industry in Tanzania and East Africa at large due to their unique attractions making them become economically plausible. This makes it the best place for accessing most potential places in Tanzania due to its strategic location. Moreover, the technical location indicator of Kilimanjaro International Airport is HTKJ.
It was established in late 1971 during the earmarking of the tenth anniversary of the independence of Tanzania when the Kilimanjaro international airport was firstly inaugurated. Due to its merging the beauty of Tanzania and the external world it was thus designated as “the gateway to Africa’s wildlife”. Despite the early commencing of this airport, it was only until early 1998 when it was then fully privatized to the government of Tanzania. It was then owned and operated by the Kilimanjaro airport development company (KADCO) which is legally owned by the government of Tanzania.
The main target of the airport was to bring massive crowds of foreigners who pay a visit to East Africa and the ones coming specifically to Tanzania to speculate the eye-catching scenery in the Tanzanian national parks and the ones aiming at exploring the highest heights in Africa found nowhere but on the peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro region is famous for having the highest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro meanwhile Arusha is known for its numerous tourist attractions including the Arusha national park, Tarangire national park and the Ngorongoro Conservation area which holds the great Ngorongoro crater. The airport port is situated in an area that is easily accessible from both regions with the help of a well-maintained tarmac road something which makes anybody to use only half an hour to reach the airport from the nearest city centers on either of the two regions.
Another key secret behind the selection of the location of Kilimanjaro international airport was the most valuable gemstones in Tanzania and the whole of East Africa, the tanzanite minerals. They are extracted on the Mererani mines, which are located just a few minutes away from Kilimanjaro international airport. This factor favors much the transportation of these valuable minerals for further refining and processing, which in turn brings a remarkable economic growth to our nation through the income obtained from the gem-stone trade.
Kilimanjaro international airport is located 40km southeast of Arusha and 30km southern west along with the co-ordinates 030 25’S, 370 42’E; which is on an elevation of 2932ft above the ordinary sea level. This geographical location favors weather conditions with an average temperature ranging between 31-34 °C. This condition is usually associated with predominant winds, which are usually recorded to be prevailing from the west towards the East. This forces the runway at the airport to have a special design feature that enables the landing of any airplanes even in lifting weather conditions. Many aggregates went to the Cat II ILS landing system design, which eventually proves to be the most favorable for such a weather condition. In the year 2005, major advancements were made to the runway at Kilimanjaro international airport so as to cope up with the recent technological revolutions taking place on the whole diaspora. It has got a tarmac road which is 3600m by length i.e. 11835 ft. X 45m (3600m X 45m) which is obviously east-west oriented.
Kilimanjaro International Airport links Tanzania to various destinations on the African continent (including South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria and so forth), and provides direct flights to overseas destinations such as the middle east, Europe, just to mention but a few. It also has internal flights that make their daily routes to various potential regions within Tanzania such as Dar es Salaam, Dodoma. And Mwanza. This also facilitates the movements within Tanzania to happen at a reasonable time. It is mainly to favor the tourists who need to explore various regions in Tanzania while chasing time, meanwhile other people such as businessmen who are always into chasing time can take that as of great advantage. This is possible only with the help of international airlines using the airport of which amongst them we have Ethiopian airways, Rwandair, Turkish airways, fly Dubai, Qatar airways, edelweiss airways and Air Tanzania which are the potent soaring wings of Tanzania. All these play a big part in making Kilimanjaro international airport grow in terms of international flights, airline operations and obviously the airline traffic which is a vital sign of victory in terms of conquering the real blue skies. It is clear that all these world-class services which are offered by Kilimanjaro international airport are offered at a very affordable price which can fairly be afforded by all classes of people.
The firstly built terminals of the airport were designated to handle about 200,000 passengers a year, but thanks to the expansions which made it capable of handling about a million passengers a year which is around five times the initial capacity of the terminals. These expansions are the blessings we can never be foregone when mentioning the efforts done by KADCO to upgrade the airport into an international class point entrance to the regions ready for exploring the prime scenery of Tanzania’s beauty. That wasn’t the end of that race, it rather extended to effective collection of revenue for a reasonable number of years which is dedicated to modernizing the infrastructure of the airport in order to offer a zest in its progression. Resurfacing the 3600m X 45m runway which is capable of handling up to (inclusively) Boeing 747-400 series or the Antonov 124 aircraft, designing fully automated weather stations and security systems, and upgrading the fire rescue systems were among the most remarkable efforts made to ensure that the Kilimanjaro airport reconciles with the international civil aviation organization standards(ICAOS).
Attaining a zenith stage is a wish every company has, only to find that wishes are not the horses they always wished for on their dreams. Kilimanjaro airport development company (KADCO) has been able to attain peace with that fact, through its tremendous effort which made Kilimanjaro international airport flutter well the flag of Tanzania in the winds which blew off the rest which proved to be unfit. This is through KIA winning various achievement awards, the best of them being the overall winner of the Routes Africa airport marking award for straight years, 2013 and again in 2014. These awards are the most noteworthy awards when it comes to the field of aviation in Africa. Without allowing us even to take a glance at other aviation companies, Kilimanjaro international airport again achieved the overall winner of Middle East and African marketing awards in the year 2015, all in a row. All this was due to the battle which Kilimanjaro airport development company (KADCO) declared and hence had to fight between life and death in order she can badly outnumber other airports, which is always her prestige. I, therefore, can majestically decree and declare before multitudes who are thinking of coming to Tanzania for any reason that we have Kilimanjaro international airport which breaks the limits of the sky and gives you services you have never expected to come across within Africa.
