Air Tanzania to suspend certain scheduled flights

One of the Air Tanzania planes flies. Long-haul flights business promises profit in the near future. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • The carrier flies to Mumbai (India), Lubumbashi (DRC), Nairobi (Kenya), Hahaya (Comoros), Ndola and Lusaka (Zambia), Harare (Zimbabwe), Bujumbura (Burundi), Entebbe (Uganda)

Air Tanzania Corporation Ltd has announced that it will temporarily suspend some of its scheduled flights especially those served by the Airbus A220-300 that operate on the PW1524G-3 engines.

In a notice, ATCL said this was as a result of challenges that they are facing in maintenance of their airbus fleet that use such engines.

According to the airline sometimes they are forced to withdraw aircrafts from operations as required by the manufacturers and as result of such measures they have been forced to delay.

“To make sure that our fleet continues to provide services according to the schedule we shall reduce the number of flights to much the available aircraft. This decision is a temporary one as the maintenance team continues to service the engines,” the carrier wrote.

This they say will affect their regular schedule as they wait for completion of maintenance work.

The carrier did not mention exactly how many planes were being withdrawn from operations and what routes will be affected with the temporary maintenance measures.

Fleet operations

ATCL has a fleet of 12 aircrafts; one Dash 8-Q300, five Dash 8-Q400, four Airbus A220-300 and two Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

It is expected that before the end of 2023, the carrier will one Dash 8 Q400, two Boeing 737 Max - 9, one Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and one Boeing 767 Freighter, bringing the fleet size to 17.

Air Tanzania has an extensive domestic coverage, operating more than 10 domestic destinations from Dar es Salaam hub to Dodoma, Kilimanjaro, Kigoma, Mpanda, Geita, Mbeya, Mtwara, Mwanza, Bukoba, Songea, Tabora, Iringa, Arusha and Zanzibar.

The carrier also flies to Mumbai (India), Lubumbashi (DRC), Nairobi (Kenya), Hahaya (Comoros), Ndola and Lusaka (Zambia), Harare (Zimbabwe), Bujumbura (Burundi), Entebbe (Uganda).

ATCL is expected to add Dzaoudzi (Mayotte), Dubai (UAE), Juba (Southern Sudan), Johannesburg (South Africa), Lagos (Nigeria), Accra (Ghana), and London (United Kingdom).