TWO out of the four planes the Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) has ordered from Canada as part of its plans to serve more local and regional routes would be delivered next month, it was learnt yesterday.
The ATCL Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr David Mattaka, told the 'Sunday News' that the national flag carrier would receive two used Dash8Q 300 next month and two brand new Dash8 Q 400 before the end of next year, all paid for by the government.
Mr Mattaka said that the Dash8 Q300 valued at 16.2 million US dollars (about 20bn/-) have a capacity of 50 passengers each, while one Q400 type carries 74 passengers.
The CEO said that the Dash 8 Q300 would fly to Kigoma, Tabora Kilimanjaro to Mwanza and Dar es Salaam to Mtwara and Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar and termed the routes domestic short-range sectors.
He said that the short-range sectors, apart from the Kigoma and Tabora, were too expensive for the company because they were serviced by Boeing 737, instead of a smaller plane.
He explained that the ATCL would fly directly from Dar es Salaam to Comoro instead of Dar es Salaam-Mtwara-Comoro as the Dash 8 Q300 will take care of the Dar es Salaam-Mtwara sector.
Mr Mattaka said that the combination of the Dash 8 series ATCL would operate to Mbeya, Sumbawanga, Dodoma, Shinyanga, Bujumbura and Kigali.
He said that the national flag carrier would soon resume former ATC routes of Lusaka, Harare, Nairobi, Entebbe and Dubai.
Meanwhile, five engineers are currently in Canada, undergoing convention training on the Dash 8 series.
Eight pilots, three captains and five first officers would leave for Nairobi, Kenya next week to undergo ground training and thereafter to another country for convention on Dash 8 Q300.
In another development, the Minister for Infrastructure Development, Mr Andrew Chenge, said yesterday that the government was working on the financing of five Airbus A320 aircraft earmarked to serve international routes of Dubai, Hong Kong, China and India.
No comments:
Post a Comment