The saga of Air Tanzania’s two Airbus A220 planes which have been grounded has taken a new course after the carrier took the matter to the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) with four African airlines collaborating to pressurise the manufacturers to find a solution.
The two planes have been grounded since October 2022 due to failure of its engines with the manufacturer allegedly failing to secure new engines in the process causing losses to its customers who purchased the planes, including ATCL.
Currently, ATCL has a fleet of 12 aircraft, of which three are grounded due to technical and legal issues, including two Airbus with the capacity to carry between 120 and 160 passengers.
Speaking on the state of the carrier ATCL’s Director General, Ladislaus Matindi said that along with the plans they have to ensure that they provide a stable service to meet the growing demand of the market, this has been interrupted by the problem of travel delays.
He was speaking on Friday March 10, during a fourth meeting of the second council of ATCL employees which took place in Zanzibar, Mr Matindi reiterated that they are continuing to press the manufacturers in collaboration with other airlines that purchased similar planes.
“At the moment we are collaborating with other organizations that use such planes, including Air Senegal, Egypt to solve this problem quickly,” he said.
He said that the African Airlines Association has decided to intervene to make sure the manufacturer complies.
According to him Egypt has 12 aircraft of that make and out of which 10 have been grounded for similar defects.
He said that the manufacturers will have to pay ATCL compensation as spelt out in the contract, but it has taken a long time now and now it is no longer the issue of compensation, instead it is about the mounting losses that the company is incurring.
Mr Matindi did not however state how much losses the carrier was making as a result of the grounding of the two aircraft.
He said that the only viable solution is for the manufacturer to offer the carrier new engines or planes that can be used in the short term as they figure out the repairs of the grounded aircraft.
In another development, Matindi said ATCL is set to receive 5 new planes, including a Boeing 767 cargo plane with a capacity of 54 tons that will be the first to be used in the country.
He said right now there is a lot of cargo, with Zanzibar alone accounting for six to eight tons every week, but they can only transport two tons, especially those of sea products that are in high demand in China.
