This archive report was first published on 26 October 2019.
On Saturday, Air Tanzania Company Ltd will welcome a new Dreamliner, christened 'Rubondo Island', as part of its fleet improvement programme. The Boeing 787-8 model 5H-TCJ is scheduled to touch down at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) Terminal 1 in Dar es Salaam at 11.00am (0800GMT).
The aircraft, adorned with President John Magufuli's motto 'Hapa Kazi Tu', will be greeted with a traditional water salute. This new addition is part of ATCL's ambitious revival programme aimed at making it one of the continent's biggest airlines by 2025.
According to ATCL's chief executive officer Ladislaus Matindi, the new aircraft, along with another Dash-8 Q400 scheduled for delivery soon, will provide additional capacity. The state-owned carrier currently operates on 10 domestic routes and provides regular flights to Harare (Zimbabwe), Bujumbura (Burundi), Entebbe (Uganda), and Moroni (Comoro Islands).
Flights to Johannesburg, South Africa were suspended in early October due to 'security concerns'. The expansion of the state-carrier is part of Magufuli administration's priorities since he took office in 2015. The government has also embarked on building new airports and modernising existing ones to boost tourism, trade, and investment.
De Havilland Canada, the new owners of the Q400 programme, announced its first firm purchase order since taking over the programme; one plane to be bought by the Tanzanian Government Flight Agency (TGFA) on behalf of Air Tanzania (ATCL). The plane will be leased out to and operated by Air Tanzania on behalf of the government.
ATCL already has three Dash 8-400 aircraft in service and another in line for delivery before the end of this year. The latest plane will be delivered by De Havilland in a 78-seat, dual-lavatory configuration.
