Private airlines brush off potential ATCL challenge

Dar es Salaam. Private airlines say the improved Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) will create connections for more passengers and increase competition.

Fastjet Tanzania general manager John Corse believes that the carrier has its priorities right. He praised President John Magufuli for campaigning to rid Tanzania of corruption and improving services.

But Mr Corse does not think ATCL’s comeback poses a serious competition for private airlines.

He is happy that the national carrier will create connections for new local routes that the private airlines could not do.

“For us it has been all about survival so we concentrated more on the routes that have passengers without creating any new route for possible passengers in the future.”

However, he said the majority of the airline’s international routes were problematic. He cited South Africa, whose rand has lost ground against currencies of major trading partners and Zimbabwe and Zambia whose economies have weakened, hurting most businesses.

Fast jet says the Tanzania government’s travel ban on public servants has not affected its business.

Precision Air brand and marketing coordinator Hillary Mremi said ATCL would not affect their business.

He is glad that with ATCL in the market the aviation industry got a spokesperson to relay challenges to the people concerned.

He also noted that ATCL will be able to bring in more connections beneficial to the private aviation. ”We are not afraid of the competition, because what matters is how we operate.”

According to ATCL acting public relations officer Lily Fungamtama, the company will on Saturday start with Dar-Mwanza, Dar-Arusha and Dar-Mbeya routes. The fare will be Sh160,000. She said the plan was to increase the base, but that would be done in phases.

“We will start with the three routes as most of our pilots are currently undergoing refresher courses,” she said.

When ATCL starts flying to Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Tabora, Musoma, Kigoma, Bukoba, Zanzibar and Mtwara where Precision Air operates, competition is expected to increase. President Magufuli recently unveiled two ATCL aircraft, pledging to purchase two more airlines before 2020. Before the new plane, the struggling national carrier ran only one leased Canadair CRJ 100s.

Apart from bringing in the new planes, President John Magufuli also made appointments of the new chairman of the ATCL board of directors and a chief executive officer in the endeavor to restore the lost glory of the airline.

Mr Emmanuel Korosso is the new board chairman while Mr Ladislaus Matindi is new director general.

That was followed by appointment of new board members of the airline by Minister for Transport and Communications, Prof Makame Mbarawa.

Introducing the new board to the public, Prof Mbarawa gave the new team a three-month ultimatum to clean the house and overhaul the entire management of the airline and get rid of the widely-held opinion there financial and operational disorders in the past were largely the management’s own making.

He categorically stated that he would show the entire management an exit door if they think they do not prove to the government that they mean business.