AfricaPress-Tanzania: Though President John Magufuli is no more, his memory will live forever in the hearts and minds of aviation stakeholders due to his as yet unmatched support for the industry.
The support by the late Magufuli – who succumbed to rare heart complications on March 17, 2021 – ranged from service provision to oversight and surveillance.
Despite the demise of Dr Magufuli, aviation players are bullish about the future of the industry, banking their hopes on the new President, Mama Samia Suluhu Hassan, whom they believe will more than follow in her predecessor’s footsteps.
The aviation sector in Tanzania gained an upstream momentum since the coming of the fifth phase regime under the late President Magufuli in November 2015.
Revamping of aviation from the past decades of struggling is attributable to great investment in Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) which opened up national and regional schedules.
The sector’s current good shape is also linked with the construction of a Sh705 billion – state-of-the-art terminal III at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA), regional airports, training and purchasing radars.
Nas-Dar Airco Head of corporate affairs and government relations Evans Mlelwa is expecting that the aviation sector would continue to be part of the national economic ecosystem under the new government led by President Mama Samia.
He expounded that the momentum gained during the Late Magufuli must be sustained and endured by the new government.
“The government should ensure that the aviation economic ecosystem advocates for improved regulations and procedures, logistics, tourism marketing, hospitality, air connectivity, capacity building and trade facilitation,” suggested Mr Mlelwa.
This approach by the government, he added, would bring a sustainable air traffic growth.
The latest report has in it that the number of passenger traffic for all airports in Tanzania jumped from 5.2 million when Late Magufuli was assuming the office in 2015 to 6.2 million in 2019.
Nas- Dar Airco is confident that President Samia would ensure the aviation sector accelerates on the pace set by the Late President Magufuli.
Mr Mlelwa proposed to the new government to look at tax and non-tax incentives which will revitalise the ground handling players and investment in cargo facilities.
This, he explained, would help to support the agri-business and look at comparable charges in the aviation sector within the East African Community to increase the country’s competitiveness in the region.
Precision Air Chief Executive Officer Patrick Mwanri is of the expectation that the government would continue offering the much-needed support to the aviation sector. He made a plea to the government to issue tax and fee relief for airlines in the wake of disruption caused by Covid-19 pandemic.
The Tanzanian aviation sector is still apprehensive about the effects of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic on passenger traffic.
“We request the government to consider providing us with tax and fee relief for us to keep surviving,” said Mr Mwanri, whose airline is now operating at 40 percent of the pre-Covid capacity.
This, he explained, would help to leverage revenue and lessen the impact of the Covid-19.
The aviation expert with a vast experience of 46 years, Mr John Njawa, is positive the incoming administration under President Mama Samia will see through the improvements in the industry.
“I have some semblance to believe she will want to prove her capability and that she had taken her internship seriously and learnt her lessons appropriately,” Mr Njawa exuded his optimism.
ATCL managing director Ladislaus Matindi is expecting the national carrier to receive the same support it used to enjoy from the government.
“I don’t see any changes because she (President Samia) is using the same party’s election manifesto which late Magufuli and she used to market themselves to the voters (during the October General Election),” said Mr Matindi.
“I see the new President with the same motto— of having a strong and efficient national carrier.”
An aviation expert with a vast experience of nearly 50 years Lawrence Paul is optimistic that as far as Mama Samia was working closely with the late President as her deputy, the aviation sector has remained in the safe hands.
He said late Magufuli was passionate about taking the aviation sector to the apex— as it used to be in the past.
That is why, he added, within only five years and 114 days of his leadership, he managed to restore the lost glory of the national carrier.
In the past, ATCL had 11 aircraft, before the number dwindled to one in 2015 when Dr Magufuli was taking the office, according to Mr Paul who started working in the aviation sector on June 1, 1971.
The Late Magufuli’s administration had purchased new eight aircraft consisting of two Boing 787-8 Dreamliners, two Airbus A220-300 models and four Bombardiers Q400, to make a total number to nine.
According to the government spokesperson, Dr Hassan Abbas, the government has already completed the payments for the other three aircraft; two Dash 8-400 and one Airbus A220-300, to make the total to 12 aircraft.
In an exclusive interview with The Citizen last month, Dr Abbas said the government under Late Magufuli was planning to purchase the cargo-only aircraft by 2025.
In another development, during Dr Magufuli’s regime, Tanzania acquired four radars at Sh67.3 billion—meant for monitoring the entire aviation airspace and eventually increasing the safety and security of the country.
Initially, according to the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) director general, Mr Hamza Johari, the country had one old and outdated radar which had a surveillance capacity of 25 per cent, leaving 75 per cent of the country unsecured.
Mr Paul, who is the retired Tanzania Air Operators Association (Taoa) executive secretary said: “I am saddened with the loss of the visionary leader who will be remembered for his role in restoring the lost glory of the aviation sector in Tanzania.”
“I pray for her Excellency (Mama Samia) to walk on his (Late Magufuli) footsteps.”
He is also optimistic she (the Head of State) would tighten the screws on corruption crackdown, discipline at the workplaces and good customer services.
“Late Magufuli was in the forefront to fight corruption. We are not 100 percent free of corruption, but at least, we can say we are in a good shape,” noted Mr Paul.
