Why 2018 was eventful year for aviation
Dar es Salaam. The year 2018 was an eventful one for Tanzania’s aviation industry.
The delivery to the government of a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in July, and the first of two Airbus 220-300 jets in December – both leased to Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) – as well as the grounding of the budget carrier Fastjet towards the end of 2018, characterised a year of ups and downs for the aviation industry.
While the attention of most pundits was focused on ATCL, Precision Air (PW) and Fastjet, it was actually a small privately-owned airline, Auric Air Services Ltd, that made the most gains, latest figures show.
Data made available to The Citizen by the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) show that Auric’s market share rose by a significant 8.5 per cent in 2018.
Its share of the domestic market reached 19 per cent in the same year, up from 10.5 per cent in 2017.
However, a 7.7 per cent rise in the domestic market share by the national carrier ATCL was enough to turn the state-owned airline into the market leader, with a 22 per cent of the market share borne on its “Wings of Kilimanjaro” motto.
But, the story was different for Fastjet Tanzania.
The airline, which led the market with a 27.3 per cent share in 2017, saw its share of the pie declining to 19.3 per cent in 2018.
Due to what TCAA attributes to inefficiency in services delivery, as well as cuts in flown routes and frequencies, PW’s market share dropped relatively slightly, to 16.3 per cent in 2018, from 19.8 per cent in 2017.
Coastal Aviation’s market share also went down from 10 to 8.0 per cent.
‘Doing better than that...’
Responding on the figures, ATCL managing director Ladislaus Matindi said the state-owned airline currently holds more than the reported market share.
“The market share you are talking about (22 per cent) is a thing of the past. I can’t comment on that now… Go back to TCAA and ask them to give you the latest report before I can give my comments,” said Mr Matindi.
Mr Matindi was nonetheless quoted last year as saying that ATCL’s market share in the domestic air transport had reached 24 per cent that year, up from 2.5 per cent in 2016.
Since President John Magufuli assumed office in 2015, his government has bought six aircraft and leased them to ATCL. This is in a fresh bid to restore the state airline’s lost glory.
The national flag carrier offers services on 12 domestic routes, including the airports of Dar es Salaam, Bukoba, Dodoma, Kigoma, Kilimanjaro, Mtwara, Mbeya, Mwanza, Songea, Tabora and Zanzibar.
It also flies to Comoros, Bujumbura, Entebbe, Harare and Lusaka.
So far so good
The Precision Air Marketing and Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr Hilary Mremi, remains optimistic that the company is on the right track, saying that figures for the year to March 31, 2019 will give the true picture of where the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) listed company is heading to.
In that regard, he exuded confidence that the number of PW’s passengers will rise to 500,000 in the year that ends on March 31, 2019, rising from the 474,247 passengers the private airline transported during the same period last year.
Introduction of the Dar es Salaam-Dodoma and Kilimanjaro- Dodoma routes effective from April 1, 2019 will boost the numbers, he projected.
He also revealed that the airline’s Dar es Salaam-Tabora-Kahama routes, which were temporarily suspended last year, would be resumed on April 16, 2019.
“With our plans to extend our footprint across the country, we have every reason to boost our market share,” Mr Mremi enthused.
The Citizen’s efforts to get comments from Auric and from Coastal Aviation proved futile as the e-mails sent to them remained unanswered.
