Turkish Airlines (THY) will begin scheduled services to Kilimanjaro International Airport from December 4. The national carrier will operate five times a week with a B737-900 on a Istanbul Ataturk – Kilimanjaro, Tanzania – Mombasa, Kenya routing.

Along with the announcement of new services by Qatar and Kenya Airways this new route will add 25% more seats from the airport, which is popular for safaris and mountaineers.

“It is a bit of origin and destination traffic but we don’t fill the aircraft that way but this service will help connect us to markets in the US, Canada and Europe through Turkish Airlines network and that also provides more opportunites for us,” Marco van de Kreeke, director of Kilimanjaro Airports Development Company told The HUB.

The airport is spending $25 million on renovation work to the terminal, aprons and taxiways which is due to be completed in 2014.