Goaguy

Hi All,

Thought i'd share some pictures that was posted this week by the Tanzanian government on one of their Facebook pages. (Hopefully in the right forum?)
The new Dar es Salaam Terminal 3 should be ready within months, though it is uncertain when it would be fully operational. Mid this year is a good guess.

You can also see more pictures on the contractor's website:
https://www.baminternational.com/en/...alaam-tanzania

This new airport terminal should finally get some improvement on immigration lines, the sad state of the only lounge at the existing terminal 2 and the fact that the air conditions often cannot properly cool down Terminal 2 during peak hours on the hottest days.
I am excited to see if this means Air Tanzania will be able to pull off international passengers in transit.









And a photo I took myself in January:


What do you think?

flying_blue_white_red

Very nice!
It can't come soon enough.

kq747

Thanks @Goaguy for posting! looks like a much needed improvement to the current terminal.

dvs7310

That's amazing, actually looks like a normal airport, a huge improvement over the existing DAR terminal. I wonder what they are going to do with all the space though, seems huge for the amount of traffic I saw there last time (been a few years).

flying_blue_white_red

Which one of these do you think will happen first?

My predictions - only based on pure feeling - are:

1: TC flight to BOM end of August 2019,
2: TC flight to JNB end of October 2019,
3: TC extension flight BOM to CAN, January 2020,
4: DAR Terminal 3 operational in November 2020.

Goaguy

I think the new terminal will come first. Construction should be completed within the next 2 months, so just a matter of how long time it will take Tanzanian government authorities to do their necessary certifications etc.
I think a very good guess is July-August. Spoke to an airline employee few days ago, she was convinced they are doing the move in May.
Or perhaps I just like being optimistic Either way I reckon Magufuli (TZ President) would like to see the first BOM flight take off from the new terminal. Afterall, it is not a massive operation they need to move from one terminal to the other. And the fact that they have a bare minimum of connecting passengers makes it quite easy i believe. And immigration and baggage handling cannot be much worse than the current state.

salehir

Let's hope along with new operations they give sufficient training to staff for them to actually carry out the operations properly.. A hard product should also come with a good soft product otherwise the frustrations just move from a tatty old building to the new one

flying_blue_white_red

Hopefully you will be right!
Apparently the opening date is set for the 30th of May to coincide with the 2 new routes.
Its very tempting to do a side trip to try Air Tanzania to JNB the 28th of June.
Difference between Y and J is huge (€315 vs €974). If the new terminal is operational, it might be worth spending more...

flying_blue_white_red

Any official update about the inauguration?
Arriving + departing through the new Terminal with Air Tanzania would be the icing on the cake.
Very eager to board their 787 to JNB... Still one month to go

W126Pilot

There's an article in the Guardian today stating that the terminal will be "handed over" to the government on the 29th of May, with "limited testing operations" beginning July 1st, and full-scale operations beginning after that.

Considering the extensive remaining need to finish hiring staff / train staff / squawk test / certify the various systems / etc., I'd be pleased and impressed if things were fully functional by August or September.

salehir

I won't expect anything to start from the new terminal in this year... I frequent Dar airport maybe 2 or 3 times a month for domestic flights and the operations at the new airport are following the African code of work which is take it slow and easy

flying_blue_white_red

Honest at least, but you know how to undermine someone's morale
DAR is more important than ZNZ (Zanzibar), so fingers crossed the terminal will be ready faster than ZNZ - just for the sake of Air Tanzania.
By the way, about Air Tanzania, not too many domestic flights (let alone regional ones) - 3 out of 10 - are well timed (IIRC only Zanzibar, Dodoma and Kilimanjaro) to connect immediately with JNB. They force to a long lay over in Tanzania - thus preventing DAR from working as a true hub right now. I hope/wish this will be improved in the near future, otherwise what's the point of a combo of new airline/airport(=terminal) in a such conditions?

Yeah, pole pole
Which is confirmed by the time TC took to (under)use the 787 on international routes!

Too bad as immediately:
Price-wise and time-wise it makes no sense at all to select TC on this specific route or even from other Tanzanian airports.

Regarding the total trip duration, starting from the shortest you got:
1) Kenya Airways 2) RwandAir 3) Ethiopian 4) Air Tanzania.

For the fare, starting from the cheapest:
1) RwandAir 2) Kenya Airways 3) Air Tanzania 4) Ethiopian.

typical

It's huge. It's empty (so far). It's... pretty sterile, but not bad.

No sign of an open lounge - there are two airport lounges and one CIP lounge signed. I'm in Y without status today anyway, and LoungeKey only lists the T2 lounge. There's only one cafe airside for now, can't see any duty free.

There doesn't seem to be any way to tell which terminal you're flying from unless your ticket happens to say - except by checking the screens at T3 (but not T2) check-in.

Airlines flying from T3 today:
FlyDubai
Malawi Airlines
​​​​​Oman Air
Qatar Airways
Rwandair
SAA
Air Tanzania (int'l)
Turkish Airlines

Airlines flying from T2 today:
Ethiopian Airlines
Kenya Airways
Precision Air
Air Tanzania (domestic)

Other airlines, will update as I hear.

​​​

Goaguy

As some of you may have heard or seen first hand, the new terminal should now be fully operational.
Any first hand experiences yet?

flying_blue_white_red

For once, I'm very glad to be proved wrong

JPM is rightly praised for this great achievement - At start of the project plus during the following years, no one believed of the outcome of Tanzanians getting an international standard terminal so quickly after he took over the office!

Have all int'l airlines now moved out to this new terminal or only Air Tanzania ?
Facilities inside must not be ready yet but who knows?