Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan will this afternoon receive a new Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA), in Dar es Salaam.
Upon arrival, the plane will be leased to the Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), a move that would make the revived government-owned airline, run a total of 11 aircrafts.
The new Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 is among three planes purchased recently by the government, which has embarked on a strategic move to revive and improve performance of the national carrier.
From a single plane a few years ago, Air Tanzania is currently operating ten international destinations, courtesy of massive investment by the government.
The ATCL revival mission kicked off in 2016, and the country has managed to procure 11 aircrafts.
Eight planes have already been received which include; four Bombardier Dash 8-Q400, two Airbus 220-300 as well as two others Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. According to the government after the arrival of another Dash 8-Q400 plane today, the remaining two will be brought into the country before the end of the current fiscal year 2021/2022.
The Minister for Works and Transport Dr Leonard Chamuriho said recently that the government plans to buy more aircrafts for short, medium and long distance routes, a move that will further strengthen the wings of the national carrier.
Dr Chamuriho said besides buying the passenger planes, the country will also procure cargo jets for the sake of exploring opportunities on airlifting of goods within and outside the country.
“Apart from the planes that the government has already bought and are set to arrive in the year 2021/2022, we will buy other ones to be airlifting passengers and cargoes,” he said, adding; “This will expand ATCLs business wings, play a crucial role in generating more income and contribute to the country’s economic growth.”
According to the recently launched Third Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP III), the government has set a target to have 19 planes by the financial year 2025/26.
The FYDP III indicates that the government would purchase eight new aircrafts that include six passenger and two cargo planes as well as keep on training pilots and engineers as well as opening new flight routes.
To execute the plans, the government anticipates spending a total of 2.93tri/- on renovation of the country’s airports and procuring the new planes.
“These efforts are expected to have a direct impact on the tourism industry which currently is among large contributors of government revenue,” read part of the document, stating further that the targets to enable ATCL fly 1.54 million passengers per year.
According to the plan, by 2025/26, ATCL is also targeting to be flying to 15 domestic destinations, which are Arusha, Bukoba, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Geita, Iringa Kilimanjaro, Kigoma, Mbeya, Mpanda, Mwanza, Mtwara, Songea, Tabora and Zanzibar.
Currently, the national airline operates in twelve local destinations such as Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Mbeya, Kilimanjaro, Kigoma, Bukoba, Dodoma, Tabora, Songea, Zanzibar, Iringa and Mtwara.
It also has eight regional and international destinations including Bujumbura (Burundi), Entebbe (Uganda), Moroni (Comoros), Harare (Zimbabwe), Lusaka (Zambia), Johannesburg (South Africa), Mumbai (India) and Guangzhou (China).
