IATA code
ZNZ. ICAO: HTZA
Official name
Abeid Amani Karume International
Where
Kisauni, 7 km south of Stone Town
Terminals
Three. T3 takes the international flights
Traffic
Around 2 million passengers a year
Currency
Tanzanian shilling and US dollars
The 30 second version
- ZNZ is the only international airport in the archipelago.
- Every international flight uses terminal 3.
- ZIC insurance ($44) and a visa ($50) are both checked on entry.
- Thirty to forty five minutes from aircraft door to kerb.
- No airport bus and no ride hailing app. Taxi or booked transfer.
- Going home, be at the terminal three hours before take off.
Getting through Zanzibar airport, step by step
ZNZ fits into one useful building and holds no surprises for anyone who has read it through once. Switch between arrival and departure to see each stage and what it really costs you in minutes.
Between the aircraft door and your driver, allow thirty to forty five minutes with your paperwork in order. Allow an hour when three long haul flights land within twenty minutes of each other, which is what the evening bank looks like in high season.
- T+0
Down onto the apron
No jet bridges here. You come down the stairs and walk the hundred metres or so to the terminal. The heat arrives before you do, so put the aeroplane fleece away while you are still in your seat.
- T+5
Health desk and the ZIC QR code
A first counter checks the compulsory Zanzibar visitor insurance, 44 USD for 92 days, bought online before you fly. Screenshot the QR code: terminal wifi picks its moments. A yellow fever certificate is only asked for if you are coming from a country where the disease circulates, and our visa and entry rules page has the current list.
- T+10
Immigration and the visa
Two queues: one for passports that already carry a visa, one for visa on arrival. Applying online first saves a solid half hour. At the counter a tourist visa runs 50 USD, or 100 USD on a US passport, paid by card or in clean notes. Your photograph and fingerprints are taken at the desk. British, Irish, Australian and Canadian passports all need one, and the e-visa route is worth the twenty minutes it takes at home.
- T+25
Baggage and customs
One belt serves every international arrival. Suitcases usually appear inside twenty minutes. Porters in numbered vests will offer to carry yours for a dollar or two, and declining is fine. Customs is generally a bag through the scanner and a nod.
- T+35
Cash and a signal
ATMs in the arrivals hall dispense shillings at a far better rate than the exchange desks a few metres away, so take out enough for the first couple of days and read our note on which dollar bills Tanzania accepts before you hand any over. Local SIM counters sit in the same hall, but an eSIM such as Airalo (partner link) has you online from the moment the plane lands, with nobody to queue behind.
- T+45
Out of the door
Booked drivers wait behind the barrier with a name board. The taxi rank sits a few metres further on, and that is where the fare gets settled, before anybody lifts a bag into a boot.
These markers describe a normal daytime arrival. A night flight landing alongside another wide body easily doubles the wait at immigration.
Two things done before you fly buy back most of that time: the ZIC insurance, and the e-visa applied for online. Passengers who did both walk through immigration in minutes while everyone else queues at the payment window.
The three terminals, and the one that concerns you
Tickets and booking sites throw a terminal number at you without explaining it. In practice a visitor arriving from abroad sees T3 and nothing else, unless they carry on to Pemba or the Serengeti.
Terminal 3
International flightsThe big glass building everyone calls the new terminal, open since 2022. Every long haul and regional international flight arrives and leaves from here, and so do immigration, the ATMs, the duty free and the car hire desks. If you are flying in from abroad, this is the only terminal you will see.
Terminal 2
Charters and overflowThe main building until T3 opened, now kept for charter traffic, peak season overflow and ground handling. Most visitors never set foot in it.
Terminal 1
Domestic flights and PembaThe small terminal the local airlines work out of. Ten to twenty seat aircraft leave from here for Pemba, Arusha, the Serengeti and Dar es Salaam. Check in closes fifteen minutes before departure, there are no jet bridges, and seat numbers are often a fiction.
Flights to Pemba leave from terminal 1, a few hundred metres from T3. Nobody carries your bags between the two, so factor in the walk if you are connecting off an international arrival.
Getting out of the airport and to your hotel
There is no airport shuttle, no train and no ride hailing app on the island. It comes down to a taxi negotiated outside the terminal or a transfer booked before you left home. The fare covers the vehicle rather than the seat, which makes a taxi good value the moment there are two of you.
| Where you are going | Drive | Taxi off the rank |
|---|---|---|
| Stone Town | 15 to 20 min | $15 to $20 |
| Kizimkazi and the south | 40 to 45 min | $35 to $45 |
| Paje, Jambiani, Bwejuu | 50 min to 1 h | $40 to $50 |
| Kiwengwa, Matemwe, Pongwe | 1 h to 1 h 15 | $40 to $55 |
| Nungwi and Kendwa | 1 h 15 to 1 h 30 | $40 to $60 |
After dark a surcharge of five to ten dollars is normal, and drivers hold their price in high season. The zone by zone detail, what a booked transfer costs against a taxi, and the ways people get caught on that first fare, are in our guide to the Zanzibar airport transfer. If you would rather drive yourself, car hire desks sit at the exit of T3 and the temporary Zanzibari permit they issue is covered in getting around the island.
Book a transfer from ZNZ
The driver tracks your flight and waits at the terminal exit with a board. The price is fixed when you book, and covers the whole vehicle on most listings.
Private airport transfer, ZNZ to your hotel
Driver waiting in arrivals, fixed price for the whole vehicle.
Airport transfer to the north and east coasts
Built for Nungwi, Kendwa, Matemwe and Paje, so 1.5 to 2 hours of road.
Private transfer to any hotel or resort
Covers the whole island, up to five people in one vehicle.
Prices, ratings and review counts read from GetYourGuide on 10 September 2026, and indicative. These are partner links: the price is the same for you.
Airlines and direct routes into ZNZ
Around fifteen airlines put aircraft on the ground at Zanzibar, split between Tanzanian regionals and the big Gulf carriers. Nothing flies non stop from North America, the UK or Australia, so the question is never whether you connect but where. Our guide to flights to Zanzibar compares the hubs, the total journey times and when fares move.
| Non stop from | Airlines | Flight time |
|---|---|---|
| Dar es Salaam(Tanzania) | Air Tanzania, Precision Air, Coastal | 25 min |
| Nairobi(Kenya) | Kenya Airways | 1 h 30 |
| Addis Ababa(Ethiopia) | Ethiopian Airlines | 4 h |
| Doha(Qatar) | Qatar Airways | 6 h |
| Dubai(UAE) | Emirates, flydubai | 5 h 30 |
| Istanbul(Türkiye) | Turkish Airlines | 8 h |
| Amsterdam(Netherlands) | KLM | 9 h 30 |
| Zurich(Switzerland) | Edelweiss Air | 9 h 30 |
| Milan(Italy) | Neos | 9 h |
| Johannesburg(South Africa) | Airlink | 4 h |
Several of these routes are seasonal and thicken between December and March, when European charters pile in on top of the scheduled flights. Check frequencies when you book rather than trusting any list, including this one.
Find a flight into ZNZ
Search the whole month rather than a fixed date. Fares into Zanzibar swing by several hundred dollars between a Tuesday and a Saturday.
Search flightsPartner link. The price is the same for you.
Where Zanzibar airport is
The airport occupies the Kisauni district, 7 km south of Stone Town on the western side of Unguja. Every drive to a beach starts by skirting the built up area around Zanzibar City before picking up the road north, east or south.
To place each beach against the terminal and work out your drive times, our map of Zanzibar marks the airport alongside every coast on the island.
Pemba, Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam: do not book the wrong airport
The mix up happens on nearly every trip, because search engines cheerfully offer Kilimanjaro or Dar es Salaam to anyone looking for a flight to Tanzania. They are three separate gateways for three different holidays.
| Airport | What it serves | From Zanzibar |
|---|---|---|
| Zanzibar (ZNZ) | All of Unguja and its beaches | You are there |
| Pemba (PMA) | The northern island, diving and quiet | 30 min flight from T1 |
| Dar es Salaam (DAR) | The mainland and the southern parks | 25 min flight or a 2 h ferry |
| Kilimanjaro (JRO) | Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Arusha | 1 h 30 flight |
The standard way to build a combined trip is to land at Kilimanjaro, do the safari first and finish on the beach, flying into ZNZ on a domestic hop. The reverse works too, though a week of doing nothing is poor preparation for game drives that start before dawn.
What the terminal actually offers
T3 is new and comfortable, but its facilities are those of a mid sized island airport. The wifi and the cash machines do their job. The exchange desks and the food do rather less.
- Wifi
- Free in T3, decent airside, temperamental on the arrivals floor. Do not count on it to reach a driver.
- ATMs
- Several machines take international cards. Withdrawal ceilings are low and each operation carries a flat fee.
- Exchange
- Bureaux open around flight times, at a poor rate. Change the bare minimum here and use an ATM instead.
- Food
- Cafés and snack counters airside, almost nothing on the arrivals side. Eat before an evening departure.
- Lounge
- One small paid lounge airside in T3, with wifi, seating and a light buffet. Walk up and pay, or use a lounge programme.
- Left luggage
- A storage counter exists and keeps irregular hours. Your hotel is the more reliable place to leave bags on a late checkout day.
- Accessibility
- Wheelchairs and assistance come through your airline on request. Boarding is by stairs, with an ambulift where one is needed.
On the connectivity question, sort it before you travel. An eSIM bought at home works from the moment you land, which is how you message a driver parked in the wrong row.
Plan the rest of the trip
Questions about Zanzibar airport
Which airport do you fly into for Zanzibar?
Zanzibar has its own international airport, ZNZ, and that is where you land. Kilimanjaro (JRO) and Dar es Salaam (DAR) are the gateways to the mainland safari circuit, not to the island: from Dar you still have a 25 minute flight or a two hour ferry, and from Kilimanjaro a full connection. Booking engines offer all three for searches on Tanzania, which is where the confusion starts.
What is the Zanzibar airport code?
The IATA code is ZNZ, the one printed on your ticket and your baggage tags. Air traffic control uses the ICAO code HTZA. The full name is Abeid Amani Karume International Airport, after the first president of Zanzibar, and you will also see it called Kisauni airport after the district it sits in.
How many international airports are there in Zanzibar?
One. ZNZ on Unguja, the main island, handles all international traffic. Pemba has Karume Airport at Chake Chake (PMA), which only takes domestic flights in small aircraft, mostly from Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam. A few private strips serve remote lodges and carry no scheduled service.
How do I get to Zanzibar from the USA?
Nothing flies non stop. The practical routings go through Doha on Qatar Airways, Dubai on Emirates, Addis Ababa on Ethiopian or Amsterdam on KLM, from a US east coast hub, for a total journey of 20 to 26 hours including the connection. From the west coast, budget a full 30 hours door to door and consider breaking the trip in the Gulf for a night.
Do any airlines fly direct to Zanzibar?
Around fifteen airlines serve ZNZ non stop, but only from Africa, the Gulf, Türkiye and a handful of European cities. Qatar Airways, Emirates, flydubai, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian, Kenya Airways, KLM, Edelweiss, Neos and Airlink are the regulars. There is no non stop service from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada or Australia, so everyone from those markets connects once.
Is there a visa on arrival at Zanzibar airport?
Yes. Most nationalities, including British, American, Australian and Canadian, need a visa and can buy one at the desk on landing for 50 USD, or 100 USD on a US passport. It works, and it adds around half an hour in busy periods. The compulsory ZIC insurance is separate, costs 44 USD, and can only be bought online: its QR code is checked before you reach immigration.
How long does it take to get through Zanzibar airport?
Thirty to forty five minutes from the aircraft door to the kerb on a normal arrival with an e-visa already in hand. Add half an hour if you are buying a visa at the counter, and another half hour when several wide bodies land together in the evening, which is the standard pattern from December to February.
How early should I get to Zanzibar airport for my flight home?
Three hours before an international departure, two for a regional or domestic flight. The bag scanner at the entrance to the terminal builds a queue before check in even starts. From the north or east coast, add the drive and the traffic through Zanzibar City, which means leaving your hotel roughly five hours before take off.