Why ATCL may lease aircraft this holiday

Dar es Salaam. Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) may consider leasing aircraft if demand continues to exceed the airline’s capacity, especially during the festive season, which is considered to be a peak period for local and international travelers.

Recently, there have been frustrations among travellers who complain about frequent flight cancellations and delays as some planes remain grounded for maintenance.

The national carrier, which flies to 24 destinations, including 14 domestic routes, from its Dar es Salaam hub, has repeatedly apologised to its customers while putting the blame for the problem on the shortage of aircraft that interrupted its normal operations.

The shortage was largely contributed by the fact that three of its four Airbus A220 twin-jet aircraft were grounded last month following a technical issue with their Pratt and Whitney engines.

The airline’s managing director and CEO, Mr Ladislaus Matindi, told The Citizen that, in a move that was expected to increase their capacity, one of the three grounded Airbus A220-300 is set to be back in the skies next week.

“We will consider leasing if this does not address the challenge of the increasing demand,” he said, adding, “We will make an evaluation to make a decision.”

He revealed that the airline received the spare engine from the manufacturer on Thursday.

“Engine installation and testing will take four to five days,” revealed Mr Matindi, while adding that the task was being done by local experts.

Because the other engine is in good condition, this aircraft only required one spare engine.The aircraft’s engine, which is out of order, according to Mr Matindi, had already been taken to a maintenance facility located in Frankfurt, Germany.

On the other two grounded planes, Mr Matindi said all four engines were expected to be taken to the same maintenance facility this month.

“We are pushing for the maintenance slot allocation. We are optimistic that we will have it before the end of this month,” he underscored.

The Citizen understands that there are 250 Airbus A220-300s globally, with the majority said to have been grounded due to problems with the engines.

Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority Consumer Consultative Council (TCAA CCC) Executive Secretary Innocent Kyara commended ATCL’s plans, saying leasing of the aircraft was a good short-term measure to take.

However, he believes that, in the long run, with the national carrier serving as the country’s pride, having its own assets is the way to go.”However, we can add only three more aircraft, one of which is for cargo. From there, we can consider leasing, if the market expands even further in the future,” said Mr Kyara.

ATCL, which currently has 11 aircraft in its fleet, is expected to receive five more aircraft, one of which will be for cargo, by next year to bring the total number of aircraft in its fleet to 16.