Air Tanzania Company Limited(ATCL) struggling to improve fleet for a return to the skies

By Njonanje Samwel

This is an article I picked from the Guardian Newspaper of today….five months on..new CEO.. TZS 2.5bn(US$2.2million) cash bailout nothing has changed at ATCL they are now flying one plane Dar-Mwanza route!

Air Tanzania Company Limited, which was recently given a government cash bailout amounting to 2.5bn/-, is working on measures to stabilise its presence in the skies.

In an interview with ‘The Guardian’, newly appointed ATCL managing director and chief executive officer William Hajji said a leased Airbus 320 aircraft would resume operations in the coming three weeks after undergoing a mandatory technical check in France.

The 150-seater aircraft was sent to France one month ago where it is undergoing a mandatory check done after every twelve years of a plane's operations.

“If everything goes well the aircraft will resume its operations in the next three to four weeks,” said the ATCL boss. Hajji was responding to a question from this reporter who wanted to know the aftermath of the leased aircraft.

“One month before expiry of the 12-year period, the aircraft was just back from Mauritius where it had gone a general technical check-up called ‘C’ check. We thought it better to send it to France to complete the mandatory check before it resumes operations,”

Last December 8, ATCL planes were banned from flying after TCAA revoked its air operating licence (AOL) for failure in documentation. The airline subsequently grounded its aircraft until December 30 when it fulfilled TCAA's requirements.

TCAA grounded the ATCL aircraft after officials from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), who were then in the country auditing the civil aviation watchdog, threatened to rate the country as not airworthy.

However, the airline failed to resume operations after the TCAA clearance due to financial problems.

However, in February, this year, ATCL planes started flying again after the government agreed to give the cash-troubled airline an additional 2.5bn/- on top of a previous cash bailout of 2bn/-.

SOURCE:THE GUARDIAN