AIR Tanzania Co. Ltd (ATCL) has received its 14th aircraft, at JNIA, received by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) as the Boeing 737-9 MAX landed from the United States.

This is a move to further boost air transport in the country and increase international. In his remarks at the ceremony, the premier urged ATCL to invest in robust strategies and ensure that with the planes, ATCL appreciably improves air transport countrywide.

The company must cut regular disruptions of domestic flights in order to attract more travellers choosing the national airline, thus ATCL must ensure that the planes operate efficiently.

The firm needs to conduct adequate market research before sending the planes to a new destination, underlining that all regions are connected by flights, while international travel opportunities are boosted to increase foreign exchange.

He also reminded the Transport ministry to properly supervise the company to ensure that the large investments the government has placed yield positive results.

Employees must be patriotic and avoid acts of sabotage to control the income losses, while improving national capacity for airline operations experts after setting up the relevant courses especially at the National Institute of Transport (NIT), he said.

The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) ought to heighten flight safety by ensuring that crew and engineers have the qualifications to serve international flights, he said.

The government will continue to strengthen the Treasury Registrar to supervise boards of public institutions to achieve intended goals, he said, noting that ATCL was soon starting new flights to Dubai and South Africa. 

“All these are good plans which need close supervision to produce intended outcomes,” he said, pointing out that the government has intensely invested in the construction and rehabilitation of airports.

Msalato International Airport in Dodoma will accommodate domestic and international flights upon completion, with works having reached 54 percent, taking up 360bn/-, and opening late next year, he said.

Transport minister Prof Makame Mbarawa said the government has procured two aircraft for NIT to train pilots to reduce scarcity of airline technicians.

“NIT has been equipped with modern plants to enable it to produce competent engineers and technicians for the aviation sector,” he stated.

Ladislaus Matindi, the ATCL CEO, said the company’s second five-year strategic plan from 2022/23 to 2026/27, projecting to have 20 aircraft, with 14 planes received, and now has 15 planes.

A long-haul flight plane is expected next month, while the plane received yesterday is medium-haul flight type.

ATCL has raised jobs to 780 staff by February 2024, from upwards of 170 employees in 2016, he said.