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The official said tender papers for construction of the new Mwanza airport were being prepared and will be advertised soon when project funds are made available. 

Even before it was elevated to city status in 2000, Mwanza was the focal point for transport in this economically vibrant Lake Victoria zone because of the gold mining, fish processing, cotton and coffee growing. It is also the main connection to the Great Lakes region, through which international relief food and other humanitarian aid is channelled to over 450,000 refugees living in the Kagera and Kigoma regions.

Already, two international airlines, Kenya Airways and South African Airways/Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), and one domestic airline – Precisionair – operate daily flights between Dar es Salaam and Mwanza. Cargo flights to Europe are also frequent as they freight mostly fish fillet.

The construction of a new airport has been welcomed by Mwanza businessmen who see it as vital to the Lake Victoria zone economy, particularly after the recent signing of the East African Community Customs Union Protocol on March 2, 2004. 

Kenya has three international airports in Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret and Uganda has one, at Entebbe.  

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