ATCL and Flight Link market shares increase in 2021/22

Dar es Salaam. Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) and Flight Link ended the 2021/22 financial year on a high note, as they recorded an increase in market share compared to the preceding year.

The year under review was not favourable for Precision Air Services Ltd, Auric Air Services and Coastal Travels Ltd which registered a decrease in market share.

Under the period of review, ATCL market share jumped to 53.1 percent from 46.9 percent in the preceding year, remaining the market leader.

During the period, Flight Link also saw its share slightly increase by 0.9 percentage points to 2.6 percent. As the Covid-19 pandemic bit, the number of tourist arrivals fell, forcing airlines—which are considered feeder airlines—to reduce their capacities, forcing their market share to go down. 

Precision Air remained in second place despite its market share dropping from 24.5 percent to 22.9 percent.

On the other hand, Auric Air Services’ market share decreased by 1.3 percent to 10.3 percent. Coastal Travel Ltd market share decreased by 0.7 percent to 2.5 percent from 3.2 percent.

Other airlines’ market share dwindled from 12.1 percent to 8.6 percent.

ATCL managing director Ladislaus Matindi said yesterday that the airline’s performance was significantly triggered by its good market strategy.

 “We have been expanding our networks to areas that used to be outside of our traditional markets, like Songea and Mpanda,” Mr Matindi told The Citizen by phone.

From its Dar es Salaam hub, the airline, which flies to 14 domestic destinations, also increased frequencies on routes like Dodoma, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza and Zanzibar.

On a regional and intercontinental scale, ATCL also flies to Nairobi (Kenya), Entebbe (Uganda), Bujumbura (Burundi), Zambia, Zimbabwe, DRC, Comoro, China and India.

ATCL plans to carry 1.2 million passengers in 2023 compared to last year’s 850,000, according to Mr Matindi.

“For us to realise our target, we are committed to improving our services to meet our customers’ expectations,” he asserted.

Precision Air managing director Patrick Mwanri attributed the decrease it its market share  to the cut in frequencies to volumetric destinations such as Mwanza and Mbeya that have many passengers but low yields.

“During the last financial year, the airline concentrated more on touristic destinations that have good yields and revenues compared to volumetric destinations,” Mr Mwanri said.

He went on to add: “Perhaps this reduced our total market share and gave the upper hand to other operators on those two routes as we did not have much frequency on these two volumetric routes.”

Director of Sales at Auric Air Services Limited, Mr Deepesh Gupta, linked a decrease in their market share to Covid-19 which interrupted airlines’ operations and so was the tourism industry.

“We depend on tourism since we are a feeder airline and since the tourism industry was adversely affected by the pandemic, we were affected too,” Mr Gupta told The Citizen.

However, he said, by the look of things, there was light at the end of the tunnel for the 2022/2023 financial year. Auric Air flies to 36 plus destinations using its 15 Cessna Caravans and one De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8.

Aviation expert Juma Fimbo urged other airlines that recorded a downward market share to pull up their socks. He said it was time they expanded their operations to destinations where they see potential demand that can generate revenue.

“We have a huge untapped market. Airlines need to grab the opportunity, or else the current market size will remain stagnant,” recommended Mr Fimbo.

Efforts to get comments from Coastal Travels Ltd and Flight Link proved futile.