British Airways Launches Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar Flights for Summer 2027

Big news for anyone who has ever daydreamed about a safari. British Airways has announced two brand new destinations for summer 2027: Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar in Tanzania, both served from London Gatwick. Safari in the north, white sand beaches on the coast, and one BA ticket to link them. For Avios collectors, that is a very tempting combination.

BA also shared a wider long-haul shake-up, including a non-stop Buenos Aires service. I'll cover all of it below, but Tanzania is the headline.

That works out at roughly 9 hours 15 minutes to Kilimanjaro and about 9 hours 30 minutes home. You can check the seat layout for the flight on Flight Seatmap once the aircraft is assigned.

This is the part I think most people will miss. The route is a triangle. Outbound, the aircraft stops in Kilimanjaro and then carries on to Zanzibar. But the return flight goes non-stop from Zanzibar. There is no flight from Kilimanjaro back to London.

In practice, that shapes your trip for you:

Book it as two one-way reward flights (into JRO, out of ZNZ). Avios pricing is per direction anyway, so an open-jaw costs you nothing extra.

One note of caution: the Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar hop is a domestic Tanzanian sector. My guess is BA won't be able to sell it on its own, but I haven't seen that confirmed, so don't plan around it either way.

Reward seats are already bookable (more on that below), but BA prices by distance, so we can work out the likely cost. Kilimanjaro is about 4,360 miles from Gatwick and Zanzibar is about 4,600 miles. Nairobi (around 4,250 miles) and Cape Town (around 6,000 miles) both price in the same band, so I'd expect Tanzania to match them. You can check the distances yourself with our Great Circle Mapper.

Here is what Nairobi currently costs one-way from London:

Taxes and charges from London sit at roughly £95 in economy and around £300 in Club World each way. For any other destination, our How Many Avios for a Flight tool has you covered.

Watch out for peak dates. This route runs through the summer school holidays, which is exactly when BA's peak pricing tends to apply. If you can travel in late May, June or October, you'll likely save Avios.

Good news: reward seats are already live on ba.com. I searched Saturday 28 August 2027, right in the middle of the school holidays, and found availability in all three cabins on BA2163 from Gatwick to Kilimanjaro, including two Club World seats.

The same flight also shows up for Gatwick to Zanzibar, listed with one stop in Kilimanjaro, with the same seats on offer. So if you only want the beach, you can book straight through to Zanzibar.

Two Club World seats on a peak summer Saturday is exactly what you need for a companion voucher booking, but I wouldn't expect it to last. New routes often have decent availability early on, and it tends to go fast once people notice. The easiest way to track seats on other dates is Award Travel Finder, which lets you set alerts rather than refreshing ba.com every morning.

If you hold a BA Amex companion voucher, this is the kind of route I'd point it at. Two people in Club World for around 198,000 Avios return (off-peak), plus taxes for both, to a destination that usually needs a connection. The voucher is valid on BA-operated flights, so the direct BA service makes it far more useful than it would be for a route that needs a partner airline.

For full transparency, I don't hold the BA Premium Plus card any more, but for a trip like this it's hard to argue with. If you're planning Tanzania for 2027, now is a good time to start earning the voucher.

New to the voucher? Our beginner's guide to the BA companion voucher explains how it works.

Short on Avios? Business owners can build a balance with the Capital on Tap Business Rewards card, which I use myself, or see our full list of the best Avios earning credit cards. If you're close to a target, our Avios Balance Booster Calculator shows whether buying through BA, Qatar or Finnair works out cheapest.

Tanzania isn't new for Avios collectors. Qatar Airways already serves both Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar via Doha, and you can book those with Avios too. The difference is time and hassle. A direct BA flight means no connection, and an overnight flight home from Zanzibar that suits a flat bed in Club World.

The trade-off is frequency. Three flights a week means your trip length is set by the schedule, so plan around the flight days first.

From 28 March 2027, BA is also making these changes:

And two new routes launch sooner: Gatwick to Colombo from 23 October 2026, and Heathrow to Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur from 9 January 2027. BA says the changes add up to a 25% capacity increase to Latin America.

More reward seats on Cape Town are welcome news. It's one of BA's best-value Avios routes, as I wrote about in our Cape Town Avios flight piece. Want to see what these flights earn for status? Try our BA Tier Point Calculator.

BA Holidays is offering seven nights at the 5* LUX* Marijani in Zanzibar from £1,499pp, including economy flights from Gatwick, a 23kg bag and breakfast. That's for selected dates between 1 and 30 June 2027, and you must book by 25 September 2026. Package holidays also earn Avios and Tier Points, so it's worth comparing against a DIY booking.

This is one of the most interesting BA route launches in a while. It isn't another sun-and-sand route. It's a proper bucket-list destination, it prices in a reasonable Avios band, and the triangle routing practically writes your itinerary for you. If Tanzania has been on your list, I'd start building your Avios balance now.

As always, follow along on Instagram for the latest deals. And if you'd like help planning your points for a trip like this, book a 1-on-1 points strategy call.

Jack