Aviation Tanzania

Tanzania's premier airline Precision Air (PW) will discontinue flying to Lubumbashi and Lusaka effective 1st July 2013. This move comes one year since PW launched the Lubumbashi/Lusaka route with four flights a week using a Boeing B737-300. According to a notice issued to its business partners, the discontinuation of this route is part of the airline’s efforts to consolidate its strategic market presence and focus on growing strong domestic demand and other more lucrative markets.  Customers who purchased tickets to fly to Lubumbashi/Lusaka with Precision Air after 30th June 2013, should expect to reach their final destinations through PW’s airline partners or receive full refund. PW’s move to stop operating to Lusaka will now leave an open route to Fastjet ,a low cost carrier that just last week got the rights to operate international flights from Tanzania, Lusaka being one of the destinations. Precision air is the only airline in Tanzania listed on DSE and earlier this year was lis…

Fastjet, the African budget airline, has been granted permission to launch international flights from Tanzania to South Africa, Zambia and Rwanda marking a major step towards establishing the first-ever pan-African low-cost network.
According to a statement issued by Fastjet, these route approvals have been granted by the relevant Governments under the Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) between Tanzania and the other countries. Now we expect to see competition on the given routes on which some airlines had a monopoly. On the Dar es salaam - Johannesburg route, Fastjet will be competing with South African Airways. To Lusaka it will be competing with Precision Air which now flies directly to Lusaka from Dar es salaam. On the Kigali route Fastjet will have to face  challenges from RwandaAir that serves DAR with daily flights from Kigali, Rwanda. Read more here: fastjet Secures International Route Approvals

Airbus A350 XWB, successfully completed its maiden flight on Friday 14th June 2013. Aviation enthusiasts around the world were eager to catch the long-awaited inaugural flight. The following are some shots of the occasion at the Toulouse-Blagnac airport in southwestern France June 14, 2013. (Credits to Airbus).






  The world’s aviation sector moved to the rhythm of Airbus’ A350 XWB on Friday 14th June 2013, as this new-generation jetliner performed its first flight – viewed by thousands of company employees, industry executives and aircraft enthusiasts at Toulouse, France, and followed on the Internet by a global audience.   Beginning its takeoff roll exactly on time at 10:00 a.m., the no. 1 A350 XWB smoothly rotated and climbed away from Runway 32L at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, ascending through scattered clouds as it was accompanied by a photo chase aircraft. Operating on maximum takeoff power of its two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, the A350 XWB demonstrated the aircraft’s low external noise levels and excellent handling conditions from its first moments in the air. “The A350 XWB is fantastic and impressive,” said John Leahy moments after the historic takeoff.  “Did you hear how quiet it was?  We’re going to set new standards with the A350 XWB – not just for comfort and performance…

Fastjet (FN), Africa's low cost airline operating in Tanzania, said its Executive Chairman David Lenigas has stepped down with immediate effect. In a statement made on  Monday, the company said that Chief Executive Ed Winter will take over Lenigas' responsibilities on an interim basis and the search for a permanent non-executive chairman was underway,
"This is a time of transition for fastjet both operationally and in terms of shareholder structure as its major shareholder, Lonrho, is likely to have a new owner in the coming weeks as a result of the current offer for Lonrho," said Lenigas.
"It therefore seems to be a good time for me to step down to pursue my other interests and handover the reins as fastjet moves to the next stage of growth," he said. Fastjet was created with ambitious plans to create Africa’s first pan-continental airline. The airline currently operates short haul flights in Tanzania with plans to launch its operations in South Africa soon.

Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya on Friday told his agitating employees, who began a hunger strike, that he did not have money to clear their salary dues. "I don't have the money to pay your salary dues, because I cannot use the proceeds from the United Spirits-Diageo deal for this due to an injunction from the Karnataka High Court," Mallya reportedly told the striking employees. The employees of the grounded airline have been on a hunger-strike since Thursday at the Kingfisher House here seeking salaries which have not been paid since last August. Mallya told the employees that the airline's chief executive Sanjay Agarwal would hold meetings with them. The employees, however, said that the meetings with Mallya earlier did not yield any results and that they would continue with their hunger strike. Last November, Mallya clinched a deal with British liquor major Diageo to sell majority 53.4 % stake in United Spirits for Rs 11,166 crore. The deal also involves Mall…

Fastjet, the low-cost African airline backed by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has had its accounts qualified by auditors amid concerns it does not have the funds to continue trading as a going concern.
KPMG said there was “significant doubt” the AIM-listed company, in which the easyJet founder owns a 3.95pc stake, could continue to trade.
The qualification was the result of sizeable losses and write-downs for the 18 months to December 2012.
The group made a loss after tax of $56m (£37m) in the period, and saw an operating cash outflow of $19.9m. The auditor said these figures and the fact that its prospects depend on improved trading and extra funding were all reasons for the qualification. 
Shares in fastjet, which had fallen by more than 70pc from the start of the year to close at 1.26p on Friday, are likely to fall further on Monday.
The accounts were published almost two hours after the market closed in London on Friday. Besides Sir Stelios, other investors include Lonhro, which owns a 4…

The Kampala based airline Air Uganda (U7) has resumed its operations from Entebbe to Kilimanjaro international airport effective from Wednesday 29th may 2013. 
The airline is returning to JRO after it stopped its operations in 2008. The return into the market follows the significant increase number of passengers between Entebbe and Kilimanjaro over the past few years with the strengthening of the East African Community. With a goal to strengthen its footprint in the region U7 has acquired on a long-term lease, a new 50-seater CRJ-200 from GECAS USA. The return of U7 to this route brings competition with Precision Air Services, a privately owned Tanzanian airline based in Dar es salaam, that has been the only airline flying the EBB-JRO route.  The Kilimanjaro Airport Development Company (KADCO) has recently embarked on an intensive campaign to market the airport. The campaign has paid off well by attracting international airlines flying directly from their hubs to KIA. Some of the airlines…