Air Tanzania has suffered 2 per cent revenue loss due virus outbreak

Dar es Salaam. Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) has revealed today that it has suffered revenue loss of between 2 to 3 per cent following the outbreak of the Coronavirus that has hit several countries forcing them to cancel the China route.

And in another development, the national carrier has also suspended flights to Mumbai India with effect from Friday March 13 due to the virus scare that has claimed thousands of lives.

ATCL has been operating four flights weekly to Mumbai.
ATCL managing Director Ladislaus Matindi said this today March 12 at opening the fifth employer’s council meeting in Dar es Salaam.
He noted that the virus has made ATCL suspend some of its chartered flights as well as the launch of the trip to China
“The company is doing well but we are faced with a number of challenges among them the Coronavirus that has made us suspend trips of chartered flight by the Chinese clients while in April we were supposed to start our trips to Guangzhou via Bangkok but we have had to suspend them,” he said.
He said that at the moment they were yet to record the loss that would be directly caused by the virus but following the cancellations of the China trip they have lost revenues between 2 to 3 percent of its contributions to the company.
Further he noted that other challenges facing the company included lights at some of the airport grounds that have been hindering them from operating their flights at night despite the huge burden of debt that was accumulated over the years.
On his part, the Deputy Minister for Works Atashasta Nditiye who was the guest of honor at the occasion, called on ATCL to be inventive to tackle challenges facing them.
He said the government has not banned airlines from entering the country but what it has done was to control passengers entering the country.
Further said that they were still assessing the situation and when matters get worst they cancel cancel the trips.
“We want to ensure safety of our people, therefore we will ban any trips that are likely to bring the virus into the country,” he said.
He said the virus is expected to adversely affect the aviation sector globally and according to International Air Transport Association (IATA) revenues gleaned from the sector are likely to decline by $100 billion.