Air Tanzania suspension of flights to South Africa, whose call was this?
Dar es Salaam. The minister of Works, Transport and Communication Isack Kamwelwe yesterday announced the suspension of scheduled flights to South Africa by the national carrier Air Tanzania.
And with that announcement, Air Tanzania became the first airline to cancel flights to South Africa due to xenophobic violence that has targeted mainly Nigerians.
Speaking at the launch of the Tanzania Metrological Authority in Dar es Salaam the minister said flights to South Africa were temporarily suspended.
“We are temporarily suspending flights to Johannesburg until we get a written guarantee from the South African government that calm has been restored. We do not want to fly passengers to a destination with chaos,” said Mr Kamwelwe.
The questions that arose were whether it was the Minister’s call to make that announcement and not the airline, because authorities at the airline seemed to have been caught unawares.
Speaking to Mwananchi , ATCL managing Director Ladislaus Matindi said they were servicing the aircraft and that the flight timetable was unchanged.
“Our flight schedule to South Africa remains unchanged,” he told Mwananchi referring the reporter to ask the minister for further clarification.
The ministry’s permanent secretary Dr Leon Chamriho too was of the opinion that the decision to suspend flights was an operational issue that rested with the corporation.
He, too, referred the reporter to ATCL administration, as he was not aware of the minister’s announcement either.
