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Precision Air reintroduces daily flight from Arusha airport
2007-09-15 08:35:05
By Adam Ihucha, Arusha
Tourists with an idea to sample Tanzania northern tourist circuit now will start their safari at the Arusha Airport, following a move by Precision Air to resume its flights here, ending a two plus years of air transport quagmire at the airport.
On September 10, this year Precision Air re-introduced its daily direct flights between Dar es Salaam-Arusha and Zanzibar-Dar-es-salaam, following the accomplishment of the major renovation of the Arusha Airport.
The International Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) complied Airline operator, suspended its flight operations almost two and half years ago due to the Arusha airfield renovation that saw an extension of current runway to slightly over 1.6km, and new terminal buildings.
The Airline`s Chief Pilot, Samwel Kyejo said here that his firm has resolved to resume its flight operations after the Tanzania Airport Authority (TAA) informed them that rehabilitation project is completed and it was ready for use.
`This is very good news not only to us, but also to passengers,` Kyejo noted, adding `it will get rid of inconveniences passengers experienced in the past two or so years of travelling to and from Kilimanjaro International Airport, about 50 km east of here.`
`The airport runway is now capable of handling an aircraft that weighs 29,000kgs. This means Precision Air is able to operate ATR 72 that has bigger capacity of 70-seaters` Kyejo explained.
`This gives us easy access to our clients from Arusha and the tourists visiting our game parks. However we will still retain some operations in KIA,` the pilot boss said.
The precision air commercial department chief, Phil Mwakitawa said the airline fleet modernization programme remains on course and it expects to get the first brand new ATR 72 by January 2008 to be followed by another one in October same year.
In July 2007, Precision Airline received another aircraft ATR-72 to bring its fleet number to seven—three ATR-72 and four ATR-42.
The firm also opened a call centre that enabled the company to become the first airline in Tanzania to introduce such service.
`E-ticket penetration crosses 90 per cent mark in June. Precision Air is the only operator in Tanzania to achieve IOSA—IATA Operational Safety Audit—standard and the sixth in Africa` chipped in the firm’s Corporate Communications Officer, Abduel Elinaza.
Elinaza further said that the airliner currently offers the widest connections to all major towns in the country including Mwanza, Tabora, Musoma, Shinyanga, Kigoma, Bukoba, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Lindi, Mtwara and Arusha.
Regionally, the airline flies to Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya and Entebbe in Uganda.
It was established in 1993 as a private charter air Transport Company operating a five-seater piper Aztec aircraft.
Initially, the line of business of the company mainly entailed providing connections to tourists visiting the rich natural attractions of Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, in northern Tanzania, the Zanzibar Island in the Indian Ocean and other parts of the country from Arusha town as its base—moved to Dar es Salaam since 2005.
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