A photo of AeroVista's Boeing 737-500 (MSN 27354 | 4L-AJB) in Cairo, Egypt has led to speculation that the Dubai-based ACMI company's negotiations with Tanzanian national carrier, Air Tanzania (TC), have fallen through.  |
| AeroVista's Boeing 737-500 '4L-AJB' in Cairo (FGottwald) |
In early October, it was reported that Air Tanzania was on the cusp of reaching an agreement with AeroVista following the grounding of TC's operations in August after it claimed the original
contract with AeroVista, signed in May, neither conformed with "Tanzanian Government pre-requisites" nor benefited the Tanzanian carrier who claimed that any profit being made by the airline was ploughed back into paying AeroVista and operational expenses.
Whilst no official confirmation from
either party has yet been received, the non-appearance of the aircraft
on any of Air Tanzania's domestic routes, eventually resumed on 12 October, implies
that negotiations between the two parties over the 737's usage have come
to naught.
Meanwhile, Air Tanzania is currently operating a wet leased South African Star Air Cargo (BRH) Boeing 737-200Adv (MSN 22030 | ZS-SVV) which has earned it much scorn from the aviation community's peanut gallery, due to its costly leasing cost structure and inefficient fuel consumption:
"The current agreement looks cheaper based on the figure for the lease fee ($1,350) compared to the fee for leasing 737-500 from the Dubai based airline company, Aerovista, which stood at $1,700 per block hour.
However, the Boeing 737-500 aircraft is a newer edition aircraft with less operational costs especially those emanating from fuel consumption level.
An airline technical operations expert says the difference between the two editions is approximately 40 percent, bringing an average of $2000 (3,200,000/-) saving for single trip of one hour flying time. A Boeing 737-200 consumes about three (3) tons of fuel for such a trip. "