Ryan Barrett, a senior vice president for emerging markets at GE Capital Aviation Services, tells AFKInsider that “Africa has very little, if any, intra-African surface links” — that is, railways and roads. Consequently, “air travel is the only way to connect the growing African economies and this has been the growth engine to date.”

Options for Tanzania

Barrett says Tanzania is a relatively small market. The domestic airlines there are regional carriers with limited destinations — think propeller planes heading for dusty Serengeti airstrips. Good traffic statistics for the country probably don’t exist because the Flyezee founders said they couldn’t find any.

But they knew they were onto something because they’d experienced the “pain points” of East African travel personally.

“The scheduling and availability is very volatile,” Hurd says. “It’s a battle for them to keep their online information up to date.” Flyezee has essentially taken on the task of “managing that volatility,” as Bell put it, enlisting five airlines so far, with the hopes of recruiting others.

Tanzanians, of course, grew up with that way of doing things — hiking down to the travel agent to book their flights. But Hurd and Bell say they believe their product will catch on, both for its convenience and cost. They charge no booking fees; the company’s revenue model is based on airline commissions.

And they say they don’t mind competition when it inevitably arrives. Not only would it help make booking online more commonplace, but there’s plenty of room in the industry.

“We’re proud to be the ones … to carve out new ground that strengthens the sector,” Bell said.