Air Tanzania
Air Tanzania is the national airline of the Republic of Tanzania in eastern Africa.
Code Data - IATA Code: TC
- ICAO Code: ATC
- Callsign: Tanzania
History
Air Tanzania was established in March 1977 after the breakup of East African Airways, which had prevously served the region. Flights were started from Dar-es-Salaam using Boeing 737-200s and Fokker F-27s. A Twin Otter was used for regional services and flights from Kilimanjaro were started. In the mid 1990s the airline used a Boeing 767 but this aircraft was too large and the airline disposed of it. Regional services were reduced in this period and the Twin Otter was also disposed of. The company was originally wholly owned by the Tanzanian government via the Air Tanzania Corporation (ATC). In 2001, the government began the process of privatizing the corporation. Initially, eight airlines expressed an interest in the privatization of ATC. By August 2002, South African Airways (SAA) and Kenya Airways were the only two remaining actively interested parties. By the bid submission deadline of September 19 2002, only SAA had submitted a bid. In December 2002, SAA purchased a 49% stake in ATC for $20 million USD after they signed an agreement with the government. As a result of this transaction, the core operating assets of ATC were transferred to a new company called Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL). The government is expected to sell 10% of its current 51% stake to a private Tanzanian investor, thereby reducing the government's ownership to a non-controlling interest in ATCL. The new airline Air Tanzania Limited (ATL) was launched on 31 March 2003, offering direct flights from 1 April between Johannesburg and Dar Es Salaam, but also to Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro.
2005 News Air Tanzania recorded a pre-tax loss of almost $7.3 million in its first year following privatisation and part ownership by South African Airways. The loss was mainly attributed to the inability to expand the network as quickly and extensively as originally planned. It had been hoped to launch services to Dubai, India and Europe, but these have been delayed as there are only Boeing 737-200s in the fleet. The development of Dar Es Salaam as an East African hub for the South African Airways alliance had also not proceeded as quickly as planned (ref: Airliner World, March 2005). On 31 January 2005 Air Tanzania suspended one of its few regional services: Dar es Salaam to Nairobi, following intense competition from Kenya Airways on the route. The airline did however reaffirm intentions to launch long-haul services within a year from Dar es Salaam to Dubai, London, Mumbai and Muscat (ref: Airliner World, April 2005).
Services Destinations served have included: Dar-es-Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Dubai, Entebbe, Harare, Johannesburg, Kigali, Lusaka, Mahe, Mombasa, Muscat, Nairobi and Zanzibar. Domestic destinations are also served.
Fleet
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