9 reviews
Hello and welcome to another Flight Report!
This is FR number 4 of 6 from my trip around Tanzania and is my 2nd domestic flight in the country. Today we'll be flying Precision Air from Dar-es-Salaam to Mwanza, the 2nd largest city in Tanzania situated on the Southern shore of Lake Victoria. Unfortunately, this route doesn't have the best of histories as a fellow Precision Air ATR 42 crashed while operating this route in November 2022, resulting in 19 fatalities. Despite that, aviation safety in Tanzania is still held at a very high standard so there's no real concern (at least from me).
Despite it being Tanzania's 2nd largest city, Mwanza most definitely isn't a popular tourist destination despite how close it is to Serengeti National Park with most tourists preferring to fly directly into the park for safaris. I honestly wanted to visit the city mainly to see Lake Victoria but also to see Tanzania outside the tourist hotspot of Zanzibar and (to some extent) Arusha.
As for price, this flight costed me $100, which isn't too bad. Checked luggage is included with the base fare (as usual for all flights in Tanzania).
I aim to offset all of my CO2 emission from flights. All emissions are calculated using the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator and I will be funding projects approved by The Gold Standard. The CO2 output for this flight is:
DAR → MWZ: 82kg
Total for 2024 (so far): 624kg
Terminal 3 at DAR is used exclusively for international flights while T2 is for domestic flights. T1 is also used for domestic flights, although it's for those operated by the tiny Cessna 208s.
The car park outside of T3. I arrived fairly early so I asked to be dropped off here and walk to T2 (it's only a 5 minute walk).
The check-in desks (in T3). It's fairly quiet as Dar really doesn't get a lot of international flights.
Walking to Terminal 2.
And here's the waiting area outside. There's a ticket check at the entrance, I'm guessing because passengers aren't allowed in 2 hours or something before as the area inside is tiny with very few chairs.
And here are the check-in desks.
Security took 30 seconds as there weren't anyone ahead of me, and here's the gate area.
There's a few shops and stuff but not a whole lot to be honest. Also planespotting isn't possible as there's a corridor between the waiting room and the glass.
As usual for domestic flights in Tanzania, our flight weren't tracked at all by FR24 (or by ADS-B in general), which means that there aren't any route information.
Boarding started on time and here's a photo of our plane.
Some information about our plane:
Type: ATR 42-500
Registration: 5H-PWE
First flight: 19 February 2010
Age: ~14 years
Config: Y48
Sister to 5H-PWF (the one that crashed in 2020), she was delivered new to Precision Air and is named Kigoma, a city on Tanzania's Western border with Lake Tanganyika and the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Another photo a bit closer.
This is my first time on the ATR 42. As usual for prop planes, I got a seat at the front to get a nice view of the propellers. What I wasn't expecting (or advertised when I booked) was for this seat (2D) to be an exit row seat with quite an… interesting… seating arrangement. There was actually someone sitting in 1D (the seat in front) however he asked to move as it was too awkward for the both of us haha.
First views out of the windows. While this plane isn't as filthy as the Dash 8 on my last flight, it isn't the cleanest and will mean that the photos won't be great sadly.
Taxiing out to the runway.
And takeoff! Bye bye Dar, see you in a few days.
Nice-ish views of the city as we climb through the clouds.
Oh and by the way, that the 'seatback' pocket. There's 4 of everything.
Shortly after, the crew came around with some water…
… and a pack of cashew nuts. Tanzania really like their cashew nuts, although it's not entirely surprising as the country is the top 10 producer of the nut globally.
Not much to see out the window.
Lets have a look at the contents of the seatback pocket, which includes a safety card…
… an air sickness bag…
… and an inflight magazine.
After that, I went to sleep for around 40 minutes.
Starting our descent into Mwanza.
Not a whole lot to see apart from fields and trees. You can see the edge of Lake Victoria in the distance on the left.
Welcome to Mwanza! We arrived on time.
Parked at the stand with almost no taxi time.
The baggage reclaim room. You can see our plane outside, it will continue on to Bukoba (another town on the shores of Lake Victoria) in around 15 minutes.
It took around 5 minutes for the staff to load up the bags and bring it to us. Finally, here's the car park outside which acts as the arrivals area.
I'll end this FR here. I've attached a tourism bonus of Mwanza below so feel free to check that out. My next FR will be on the return flight back to Dar on what is probably the highlight of this trip (in terms of flights). Thanks for reading and see you there! ;)
A nice flight with Precision Air. Having an exit row seat is always nice (especially when they don't charge extra for it), although it would be great if they'd show it on the seat map as I wasn't expecting such an awkward seating arrangement at the front. Aside from that, a snack and a bottle of water is always nice for a 2 hour flight. No real complaints from me.
Dar-es-Salaam Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR) T2 - A small but efficient terminal. It's got plenty of seats and has everything you'll need. The only complaint is the cleanliness of the toilets.
Mwanza International Airport (MWZ) - I find it amazing that it's an international airport (although there's no international scheduled flights). It's just an airport with a runway and a terminal building (not a tent), what more do you honestly expect from an airport in Tanzania?
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 3 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Dar es Salaam (DAR) → Mwanza (MWZ).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Air Tanzania avec 7.2/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 43 minutes.
More information
6 Comments
For sure, I've flown twice minimum in the same aircraft - PWE and each time crew activated drop down screens as IFE even for a 1h long domestic flight ... maybe a surprise you reserve for us in your next FR??
While it's a common occurrence to display the current president in public buildings in Africa (and elsewhere certainly) - it's surprising they decided to honour the venerable Mwalimu instead of (unfortunately?) the current influential SSH. A still nostalgic patriarchal nation perhaps? ?
OMG, spot on?!
During an Irrops by RwandAir, in Mwanza, we got accomodated at the Malaika Beach resort, a 4 or 5 * hotel nearby the airport. I thought it was a very nice gesture until - as you've perfectly described - Room, pool, lift and more were all raided by those million friends - yuck... Imagine those who pay to stay there around that period?!
Other than that, again totally agree, Mwanza is vibrant and lively off the beaten path city. See you soon Lia_K!
Wait really? I never noticed that! It might be that I was sitting at the very front so I didn't see it. That's so cool though, I've never seen a drop down screen on an ATR.
That's where I stayed in Mwanza. I thought it was a great idea staying right by the lake... until I got there and realized the place was swarming with lake flies. I don't think January's the worst month but I did spend most of my time here wiping flies off the desk, chair and bed, which is as pleasant as you can imagine...
Thanks for reading!
For first row facing forward, the TV screen is mounted on the cockpit door (visible on the photo after you boarded/ talk about seat arrangement ?).
Very impatient to discover the pinnacle of your TZ journey then ( I bet on Air Tanzania A220 ?).
Technically, it was - especially for a perfect retreat. The sandy beach is amazing despite swimming was strictly prohibited ... go figure ?.
You right, April is. At least, you will keep some unforgettable memories plus you tried some local delicacies for free ?.
Ohhh!! Now I see it! I really wasn't expecting a screen there, it looks like a screen for the crew haha.
Hmmm...... ?
Yup! I remember reading an article (ages ago) that they actually eat those things? I think they put it in a patty and fry it or something... yuck...
You are brave! I would have really hesitated. I know Precision Air have a good reputation, and aviation in Tanzania in general, but I would have been more than a little nervous, personally.
Haha those seats are super awkward, especially if both people have long legs as you can't really stretch out your legs without playing footsie. The legroom looks good on paper, but not so great in reality to be face to face with a stranger.
Overall a pretty good experience, though you'd almost expect a sandwich or something a little bigger on a 2h flight as it seems pretty common in Africa to have meals on even short flights.
Thanks for sharing!
Some say brave, others say stupid. There's a fine line between the two. Considering how utterly terrifying the roads are there, flying is way, way safer. Plus, as you mentioned, Precision Air have had a fairly good reputation safety wise with no major accidents apart from the one I mentioned.
To be honest, I wasn't expecting much, especially after seeing that tiny tent airport in Arusha and from a smaller airline like PW.
Thanks for reading!
Login to post a comment.