Passengers travelling between Tanzania and Russia have been forced to reconsider their plans after Air Tanzania suspended its direct Moscow service, citing the need to review safety conditions along the route.
The airline announced that flights TC422 and TC423 between Dar es Salaam and Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport would be temporarily stopped from September 4.
Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) said the decision was reached after a routine assessment of the conditions under which the route is being operated. The carrier said such reviews are carried out regularly across its network and can lead to temporary suspension of services when necessary.
“The decision follows a routine risk assessment of the operating environment along the route. ATCL conducts these assessments continuously across our entire network, and where the outcome supports a pause, we take one,” the airline stated.
ATCL said protecting passengers and maintaining safe operations was the main factor behind the decision, rather than the commercial impact of suspending the route.
“Safety considerations always take precedence over commercial ones,” ATCL noted.
The airline, however, did not reveal the exact safety issues that emerged from its assessment. It also stopped short of saying that the suspension was directly caused by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The announcement comes at a time when concerns over Russian airspace have grown following increased Ukrainian drone activity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also issued warnings over the potential risks facing civilian aviation.
Russia’s Transportation Ministry said on Wednesday that civil aviation officials were coordinating with the military to avoid “any significant disruption” to domestic air travel after Ukraine issued an airspace warning earlier in the week.
For passengers already booked on the affected flights, ATCL said it would provide two options. Travellers can either receive a full refund or have their tickets moved to another date or alternative route without paying extra charges.
“We continue to monitor conditions in consultation with the relevant authorities and will announce the resumption of services as soon as the assessment supports it,” the airline added.
The development comes only about two months after Air Tanzania started its direct connection between Dar es Salaam and Moscow, making the suspension a major interruption to the newly launched service.
Air Tanzania is also the first foreign airline to suspend flights to Russia amid the latest concerns surrounding the safety of Russian airspace.
The carrier apologised to affected passengers for the inconvenience and thanked its customers for continuing to place their trust in the airline.