Tanzanian carrier Air Tanzania (TC) is to resume flights between the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam and Kigoma, the regional capital of western Tanzania with daily Bombardier DHC-8-300 operated flights to start 10 January 2013. Additionally, flights to Mbeya are also tentatively planned for 20 January with Tabora, Mpanda, Arusha, Zanzibar and Mtwara to follow in due course.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam, Air Tanzania's Acting Chief Executive Officer, Captain Milton Lazaro, said the company would deploy its 50-seater Bombardier Dash 8-300 (MSN 474 | 5H-MWF) plane on the Kigoma route following the successful completion of its C-Check by Air Tanzanian engineers.
Services to Kigoma were suspended owing to renovation works at the airport which was the scene of a grisly accident in April last year
involving an Air Tanzania DHC-8-300 (MSN 462 | 5H-MWG) which overran Kigoma's main runway 16/34 after a rejected take off. The plane received substantial damage.
“We are now set to resume our Dar es Salaam- Kigoma flights on Thursday 10th January this year and we are also working on implementing our aggressive expansion plans which will see us flying to other destinations which we have not covered at the moment,” he said. Captain Lazaro mentioned that ATCL will soon fly to Tabora and Mpanda once renovation of those airport facilities are completed, hence giving their customers in various destinations a better most preferred airline service.
“ATCL’s strategic plan to commence flights to Songwe Airport in Mbeya is in a better stage. We expect to start flying passengers to that destination on 20th of January this year as we were still waiting completion of renovation of the airport,” he said.
Source [IssaMichuzi]
Air Tanzania(TC): Dar es Salaam - Kigoma
- Effective 10 January 2013
- TC118 DAR 0600 - 0900 TKQ DH8 1234567
- TC119 TKQ 0930 - 1230 DAR DH8 1234567
Source [Air Tanzania]
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| Air Tanzania DHC8-300 (falcon) |
According to Lazaro, after the launch of Mbeya, Air Tanzania will operate Arusha via Zanzibar and Mtwara flights by January 30, with the company set to add "three more Bombardier Dash 8s" before year end, though this development has been on the cards for some time. Flights to Arusha and Mtwara were originally scheduled to have begun in November 2012, though no reason was given for their deferment.
Lazaro concluded by saying that the completion of the C-Check by local engineers was a significant achievement as it proved that Air Tanzania could now offer such services to other airlines as well as saving the Tanzanian carrier the expense of having to send aircraft abroad to under go the requisite checks.
Air Tanzania, following a series of false starts, has struggled to play catchup on the increasingly competitive domestic Tanzanian aviation scene. Their main competitor, private carrier Precision Air (PW), has embarked on an aggressive network expansion which will be sustained by the arrival of several ATR42-600s and ATR72-600s in the coming months.