TANZANIA Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) and aviation sector’s stakeholders met in Dar es Salaam yesterday to deliberate on facilitation of local airline operators to conquer intercontinental market.
It was basically the stakeholders’ consultative meeting to discuss proposals by Zanzibar Airports Authority (ZAA) and Kilimanjaro Airports Development Company (KADC) Limited on introduction of security fee.
The two entities seek stakeholders’ approval to introduce the fee on airline tickets bought from the two airports to raise funds for improvement of security facilities to meet international standards as stipulated in the Convention on International Civil Aviation—the Chicago Convention.
With local airline operators showing readiness to access regional and inter-continental markets, the country’s airports also ought to heighten security as per the convention, which establishes the rules of airspace, aircraft registration and safety. The document was signed on December 7, 1944, in Chicago by 52 signatory states.
It received the requisite 26th ratification on March 5, 1947 and went into effect on April 4, 1947. As of November 2017, the convention had 192 state parties, including all member states of the United Nations (UN) save for Dominica and Liechtenstein.
TCAA Director General, Hamza Johari said the country has to meet aviation security standards as stipulated in the convention for local operators to penetrate into the continental market.
He said the domestic operators have so far conquered the domestic market and the regional market, to some extent. “Currently, we see a new dynamic, with some operators seeking to surmount all the domestic, regional and inter-continental markets. And, they have embarked on some efforts,” Mr Johari told the stakeholders’ consultative meeting.
He explained that countries like the US want to assess the security facilities of the airports from where airline operators originate. “Since there are some operators who want to conquer intercontinental markets, we should expect the US coming here to inspect our airports’ security facilities,” he said, hinting that the country’s international airports, at large, have improved security.
Explaining the envisaged fee introduction, KADC’s Acting Director of Operations and Technical Services, Engineer Martin Kinyamagoha said the fee will enable the company to purchase machines to detect illicit drugs and cargo imported through the port. Through the fee, Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) will also fund training on aviation security for its employees.
ZAA, which lacks cargo scanners, will equally use the collected fee to procure the machines. Lack of scanning machines has reportedly been scaring away some international airlines like the Turkish Airline. ZAA Director General, Zaina Mwalukula told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting that the money to be raised from the fee will also help in the installation of CCTV cameras on the airport fence.
Stakeholders who attended the meeting welcomed the fee, considering its importance on improving security but proposed that the amount be pegged fairly to make the tickets affordable.
