09/02/12, 19:17:13 EST

  e-mail this article

Tanzania national airline fights back to survive

eTN

Coming back with new business strategies, the ailing Tanzania national airline, Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) had re-branded its image after parting away with South African Airways (SAA).

The airline had from Monday this week launched its expansion program with introduction of a new logo bearing an image of a giraffe to replace the SAA flag symbol and the SAA’s trading code of 083 in favor of its own 197 coded tickets.

Tanzania’s minister for Transport Mr. Andrew Chenge said ATCL’s target has been aimed at providing the highest evel of customer satisfaction and extend its three decades of service.

ATCL’s chief executive officer David Mattaka said the newly designed logo will give the airline clear identity that would help to promote Tanzania’s tourism in its flight destinations. The ATCL aircraft tail bears a giraffe logo and a symbol of snow capped Mount Kilimanjaro.

New business initiatives have been directed to revive the dying airline and make it among competitive African carrier in terms of flight frequencies, safety and customers satisfaction, Mr. Mattaka said.

Born in March 1977 as “Air Tanzania Corporation” after the breaking up of the East African Airways (EAA), Tanzania’s national airline has been surviving through government subsidy.

Lacking modern and wide-bodied aircraft, the airline plans to hire big planes that would equip its fleet with capacity to fly into African, European and Asian skies, looking favorably big airports of London, Hong Kong, Dubai, Johannesburg and Nairobi.

But aviation industry observers find a tough road ahead ATCL’s revival program because of cut-throat competition, especially from the Middle East registered airlines and African carriers which have occupied the East African skies. Despite its business aviations coming back in a bang, the airline operates a fleet of two aged Boeing 737 in its flights and a hired Boeing 737 – 200.

By itself, Kenya Airways has captured lucrative routes which ATCL has been looking at, including the Dubai shopping one, still under tough competition between the Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines, leaving away Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which plans to launch flights to Dar es Salaam.


London and European cities have fallen under tough competition between Middle East airlines through their ticket price offers to East African travelers whereby, a return ticket from Tanzania’s capital Dar es Salaam to London costs only US$ 800 in Middle East based airlines, cheaper than European registered carriers.

 Printable Version  | published Oct 01, 2007