EDITORIAL: It’s a step in the right direction on air safety

Reports that the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) is working on plans to make Tanzanian airspace safer for all-round aviation are very good news, indeed.

But that is not all. What is perhaps most gratifying is that, to go about implementing the plans, TCAA will rely entirely on funding from its own sources and resources.

We see this as a positive indication on the part of the TCAA of self-standing, self-reliance, self-supporting, or self-sufficiency on a self-sustaining basis henceforth and well into the future for the Authority.

Whatever is the case, TCAA – as the authority on Tanzanian airspace, aviation and activities appertaining thereto in terms of regulatory and other frameworks – is showing the way forward for other government institutions and parastatals.

This is a salutary lesson on how best such entities can become independent from potentially-weakening extraneous control – including imperial control – that invariably comes with chronic dependence on external handouts.

If a practical lesson were still needed, then it is this: TCAA has been able to boost its revenues over and above set collection targets in the last four years.

Collected mostly in the forms of safety and licensing fees, as well as air navigation services and landing charges, TCAA is allocated only 30 per cent of the total, while the remainder goes to the Tanzania Airports Authority (TAA).

Yet TCAA spends the relatively little that it gets on upgrading and maintaining airspace safety and navigational infrastructure to standards approved by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao).

This is saying a lot for TCAA, as it directly and indirectly contributes to doubly-assured air travel safety in the national interest – including increased international air transport services and Tanzanian tourism, all based on increased confidence globally in the country’s airspace.