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New players apply to take to the skies in Tanzania

EXISTING airline operators should brace for a cutthroat competition as two new operators apply for licenses to start scheduled domestic flights, The Citizen of Dar es Salaam reported.

The move - which comes at a time when the government has just brought in two aircraft to resuscitate Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) - may also see airfares going down as operators seek to get an increased market share from the travelling population.

About 28 airline companies have applied to the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) to be licensed for various forms of air transport service and ground handling service operations. But only two - United African Airlines of Dar es Salaam and Assalaam Air (Z) of Zanzibar - are seeking to conduct scheduled domestic and air operations, according to a statement from the TCAA.

Working under the TCAA's licensing of air services regulation of 2006 and ground handling services regulation of 2012, the authority will sit on December 1 to consider the applications.

United African Airlines has applied for a license to operate international air cargo services as well as passenger air services domestically on Dar es Salaam-Arusha-Zanzibar-Arusha-Dar; Dar es Salaam-Kigoma-Dar es Salaam and Dar es Salaam-Mwanza-Dar es Salaam routes.

Assalaam Air (Z) Company - which is already operating chartered, non-scheduled and scheduled flights to Dar es Salaam from Zanzibar, Iringa, Pemba and Tanga - is now seeking for license variation to include new routes like Dar-Tabora-Dar; Dar-Bukoba-Dar; Dar-Kilimanjaro-Dar; Dar-Songwe-Dar; Dar-Shinyanga-Dar and Dar-Kahama-Dar.

While the move is expected to give ATCL, Precision Air and Fastjet a run for their money since the new aspirants are also looking up to operating on the same routes that are dominated by the three, the companies believe they have what it takes to beat the competition and remain steadily afloat.

"When the competition increases, the final consumer is more at an advantage because even the quality of services improves to suit them... however, we are happy that monopoly in the aviation sector is finally coming to an end... we believe that this brings a healthy growth for the sector as passengers will be able to choose a company that meets their needs and aspirations," said the Precision Air marketing and branding coordinator, Hillary Mremi.