Market notes
On chartering from Zanzibar
Zanzibar is a destination market and every operational detail follows from that. The airport handled 1.2 million passengers in 2024 across a single 3,000 m runway, and the VIP lounge in the new Terminal 3 (opened 2020) processes private arrivals separately from the main commercial building.
What Zanzibar does not have is a stand-alone FBO campus of the kind at Dubai or Johannesburg. Movements run through the airport's business-aviation arrangements and appointed handlers, but parking is more relaxed than at Male or Mahé, so a two-week resort stay is often possible without repositioning the aircraft. That changes the economics of a longer trip.
Zanzibar is nonstop territory for ultra-long-range aircraft from London (about 8h 30m), Zurich, Geneva, Moscow and Riyadh year-round. Heavy jets handle Dubai, Doha, Mumbai, Delhi, Cairo and Johannesburg nonstop. Super-midsize covers the Gulf, Nairobi and Cape Town. Nairobi is the natural feeder for anyone combining safari with beach; the 1h 15m hop from Wilson Airport is one of the most popular light-jet sectors in East Africa.
The biggest planning items are the visa ($50 on arrival, processed in the VIP lounge in minutes) and the onward transfer. Helicopter operators run in daylight only, so late-evening arrivals mean either a road transfer or a next-morning helicopter. JetAlto works the itinerary backwards from the final resort check-in and quotes the Zanzibar end accordingly.