Author: DEOGRATIUS KAMAGI
AfricaPress-Tanzania: AFTER the decline of business due to the effects of Covid-19 pandemic, things are now getting back to normal, as Swissport Tanzania looks forward to recalling its staff.
The staff were sent home due to the company’s move to minimize operational costs.
At least 250 staff with Swissport Tanzania, the ground handling and cargo service provider, were sent home during the peak of Covid-19, but today, 86 of them resumed work.
Chief Executive Officer of Swissport Tanzania, Mr Mrisho Yassin made the statement in a press conference to mark 35 years of the establishment of the company in the country.
“This is the first batch, our target is to have all of the employees who were retrenched back to work by December,” he said.
According to him, after the reopening of airspace in many countries, a total of 18 out of 22 clients of Swissport have so far resumed their flights to Tanzania, a move that has assured them that business is going to pick up to normal in the near future.
He was confident that the target will be met as most of their customers have resumed flights to Tanzania, making the necessity of the firm to need more staff.
Out of 22 clients, the national airline carrier, Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) remained their potential customer, with a higher number of flights per day.
“Before Covid-19, ATCL had 35 flights per day, but the number went down because of the pandemic, however, right now they are coming up with a plan of having not less than 20 flights daily,” said the Swissport boss.
“I’m aware that some of our clients, such as Oman Air and Uganda Air are also resuming their flights to Tanzania from October 1, this year (today),” he noted.
Expounding, Mr Yassin mentioned transformation from analogue to digital operations and improved investments as among the key achievements that have been recorded for the past 35 years.
“Also, we have continued to scoop a number of certificates, including Quality Management system, Environmental management systems, and the Safety Audit for Ground Operation from the International Air Transport Association (IATA),” he told members of the press.
On employment, he said the firm has employed over 800 staff, where only one is a foreign national, while the remaining are Tanzanians, he said, adding that the company has a total assets worth 60bn/-.
