The Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) is mulling doubling its Air Navigation Charges and Safety Fees as means of paying for various infrastructural upgrades set to be rolled out over the next two years. The move however is still subject to a stakeholders meeting set for July 11.
According to the TCAA director general, Mr
Fadhili Josiah Manongi, the meeting will allow the general public, including stakeholders in the aviation industry, the Government, the TCAA Consumer Consultative Council and the International Air Transport Association, to express their views regarding the hike though it says, the meeting will not dwell on any motion to reverse it.
The proposed hikes are as follows:
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| Proposed TCAA charges (TCAA) |
The TCAA is justifying the move based on the premise that rates have remained largely unmoved since 2003 despite the depreciation of the Tanzanian shilling and inflation and that the country needs to meet minimum standard requirements as required by the ICAO.
During the last five years, the Authority has heavily invested in various equipments for efficient provision of Air Navigation Services (ANS), including DVOR/DME (Dar es salaam, Mwanza & Zanzibar), NDB’s (Arusha, Dodoma, Mbeya, KIA, Mtwara), VHF equipments, ATIS, Automated Weather Observation System, and VHF Relay Stations at Kasulu and Mnyusi.
In the next five years, the Authority is planning to invest further in the UACC/UFIR Phase 1 & 2, RADAR (Mwanza, Mbeya & Dar es salaam), VSAT, ADS-B Phase 1 & 2, AMHS, DVOR/DME (Songwe & Msalato), CVOR/DME (Tabora), Motor Vehicles (8 units for maintaining ANS equipments), eAIP/AIXM Database and ATS Message Handling System together with increase in staff and operating costs. Subsequently, the Authority has decided to review ANS Charges and Safety fees.
The cost incurred by the Authority for operating one Aircraft, regardless of its weight for one Nautical Mile is estimated to be USD 1.15, for example ALSAR – ALTIN is 40 Nautical miles. Therefore, the total costs to operate an Aircraft in this route is USD 46 while the maximum charge that the Authority imposes on the route is USD 40, hence creating a deficit of USD 6 and the longest route is TABNO – LABAT which is 817 Nautical miles and its total operating cost is USD 939.55 while the maximum amount charged by the Authority is USD 300, therefore creating a deficit of USD 600.55
The East African press has been particularly acerbic about the proposed hike arguing that the fee hike will simply render regional neighbours Kenya and Rwanda more favourable to prospective carriers. In Kenya, the maximum navigation fee is USD180 for aircraft weighing above 300,000 kilogrammes while in Rwanda, the maximum navigation fee is USD310 for aircraft weighing 273,000 kilogrammes.
