Etihad Cargo announced more freight capacity in Tanzania, Switzerland and the U.S. Etihad Cargo began a weekly freighter service to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. On the return flight to Abu Dhabi, the freighter will stop in Nairobi.

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s biggest city, is a major industrial and economic center in East Africa. The freighter service will operate every Monday to Julius Nyerere International Airport. Etihad Cargo will deploy one of its three Airbus A330-200 wide-body freighters on the route, offering uplift of up to 64 tonnes.

Initially, the airline expects the service to carry heavy electronics, medical equipment and food items to Dar es Salaam, with primarily perishable goods destined for the Gulf region and Europe loaded for the return flights. “Tanzania is a new market for Etihad Cargo, and our weekly Abu Dhabi-Dar es Salaam-Nairobi-Abu Dhabi routing will allow us to capitalize on the strong import and export demand to and from one of the fastest growing cities in Africa,” Kevin Knight, Etihad Airways’ chief strategy and planning officer, said. “This Dar es Salaam service will facilitate trade between the UAE and Tanzania, in addition to offering customers across the Middle East, subcontinent and Europe bidirectional maindeck cargo solutions to and from a major trading center on the African continent.”